Amal El-Mohtar (she of a cool name, Goblin Fruit http://www.goblinfruit.net/ and much writing loveliness) is responsible for the below story at Strange Horizons. Her writing frequently sings … in short, awesome sauce.

And Their Lips Rang with the Sun

Look at them! Are they not beautiful? Had cinnamon been ground and rubbed into their skin, they could not have been more brown, more fragrant, more beloved of the wine-bright sky.

Come, stranger, come, admire the wealth of our nation, the pride of our city, the joy of our people’s eyes. These girls, these women with their slender necks and sloping shoulders, they heft their spears high into the air as they sing the morning up, clash shaft against head in a dawn dance that scatters clouds and rains light on the city below. Hours from now they will lower their weapons and murmur evening down, they will twine forearms and elbows and draw close to each other, brush lash against cheek and embrace before slipping apart to find their seats on the rooftops, curl fists under chins and wait for the morning again. They form a splendid alphabet, do they not? See how swift and clever are their feet, how their lips are sewn with tiny golden bells, how their very breath chimes and shines, the better to spell out the hours of the day in brilliance worthy of the Sun!

It takes a great deal to be worthy of the office.

Read the rest here http://www.strangehorizons.com/2009/20091005/sun-f.shtml