Millennia
ago, the first Emperor of China
told
his alchemists to find the solvent to
eternal
life. They gave him mercury, and
eventually
he lost his sanity and died. He
got
his wish, I suppose, although I’m sure
that
wasn’t what he had in mind. Before
his
departure into the darkness beyond, he
commanded
his subjects to fashion a life-
size
terracotta army of soldiers some eight
thousand
strong. For he needed them to fight
his
battles in the next life to come. Today
unearthed,
that army stands inanimate and
at
attention frozen
in time and place. And,
my
brothers and sisters, history
tells us,
emperor
or commoner, death is everlasting.
Our
defenseless bones
carry with them into
eternity
no army, no stature, no
name.
Chris
Hanch 3-14-19
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