History Remembers

History Remembers by Ishika Jha

History remembers Cleopatra as beautiful.

That is a lie.

Statues and coins

with hooked noses

and strong features

don’t show her as the ‘femme fatale’

we expect to see.

Instead, Cleopatra was captivating.

Her voice,

that could speak in up to nine languages,

paired with

irresistible charm

brilliant wit

and a sharp mind,

was a weapon greater than any beauty.

She was raised with the knowledge

of the finest philosophers,

mathematicians,

scientists,

and poets of her time,

gifted with the finest education possible

in the Greek world.

As ruler,

she curbed corruption

commanded armies

sustained stability

spared grain to the poor

and strengthened her kingdom.

But her story has survived today

through the eyes of her enemies,

whispers of false rumours

and old stereotypes.

Here, they say,

rather than a protagonist in her own right,

she is a side character

in the lives of men,

an evil seductress

who led great Romans astray.

Her enemies have succeeded.

Because before it remembers her as

a linguist,

a conversationalist,

a fleet commander,

or even a powerful ruler,

History remembers Cleopatra as beautiful.

© Ishika Jha, from SLAM! You’re Gonna Wanna Hear This, chosen by Nikita Gill, Macmillan, 2020