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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365836" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Robbing the Tomb</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The year was bad, the crops were burnt, <br>The dragon turned his back, <br>The River Wei was almost dry<br>The earth was brown, and cracked, <br>The peasant army, risen up<br>Destroyed the House of Chin, <br>Set fire to all their palaces, <br>Their army turned and ran.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But we were left with nothing since<br>The death of Chin Shi Huang, <br>That first and greatest Emperor<br>Who'd ruled across the land, <br>He lay within his tomb up there<br>Hid deep within Mount Li, <br>And left us all with nothing but<br>A distant memory.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So Wang and Tong, my neighbours<br>With both Zheng and Shao along, <br>Had thought about the riches that<br>Lay underneath the ground, <br>They'd murdered all the builders and<br>The architects, the slaves, <br>So no-one could reveal the plans<br>Of Chin Shi Huang-ti's grave.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The ruling class were weak, had fled, <br>We thought this was our chance, <br>Why shouldn't we be rich, we thought, <br>We'd fought with sword and lance, <br>We'd long defended Chin Shi Huang<br>So now we should be paid, <br>The riches of the tomb lay there<br>Down where his corpse was laid.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'You know the penalty for this, '<br>Said Shao, 'we'll lose our heads, <br>If anyone should get to hear<br>That we've disturbed the dead.'<br>'We're going to die soon anyway, '<br>Croaked Zheng, 'you'd rather starve? <br>I'd risk my head for just one ring...'<br>The rest of us just laughed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'What if his ghost has roamed abroad<br>To rage and roar at us? <br>Down in that ghostly sepulchre<br>Where he was laid in trust? '<br>'No man survived to see beneath<br>Those workings that were done, <br>They buried all his concubines <br>And workmen, every one! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">'I'd face a thousand ghosts, ' said Tong, <br>'A ghost can't do you harm, <br>'I hope you're sure of that, ' said Wang, <br>Who blanched in his alarm.<br>'Of course they can't, we'll get to work<br>The moon is full tonight, <br>We'll tunnel down, lie low by day, <br>Work while the moon is bright! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">It took us just a week to find<br>The steps to take us in, <br>The air was musty, smelt of death<br>The death knell of the Chin.<br>Then Shao had lit a candle, and <br>Cried out, a note of fear, <br>We stood and stared agape at horses, <br>And each charioteer.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And lines of archers, infantry, <br>That glared us in the gloom, <br>A whole division of the Chin<br>Had filled that darkened room, <br>But soldiers, made of pottery, <br>They stood as if in death, <br>To wait for Chin Shi Huang to rise, <br>To take a mortal breath.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">We made our way between the rows<br>An army from the past, <br>And every face was different there, <br>A grim, unsmiling mask, <br>There must have been a thousand, or<br>Ten thousand, who could tell, <br>The army of an Emperor to<br>Breach the gates of hell! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Eventually we found a way<br>To tunnel through the walls, <br>Some passages led out of there<br>Deep down into the halls, <br>Where concubines were lain, asleep, <br>The beauties of the land, <br>But when Shao touched a tender cheek<br>The flesh was yellow sand.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">So down, and deeper down we went, <br>The tomb must lie below, <br>We had no thought for safety, we<br>Just wandered anyhow, <br>And then a twang had sounded, as<br>A bolt took cousin Zheng, <br>Straight through the skull, the crossbow<br>That he'd tripped, was meant for him.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He died before he hit the floor, <br>Then other bolts flew yet, <br>The traps for plunderers like us<br>The Emperor had set, <br>One took Shao, entered at the throat<br>And pinned him to the wall, <br>His eyes had glazed, and then he died, <br>He couldn't even fall.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That left just me and Tong and Wang, <br>To crawl along the floor, <br>We came to heavy cedar doors<br>We knew we'd found the core, <br>The pictographs said 'Don't come in, <br>Or you will feel the curse, <br>Of Emperor Chin Shi Huang, your sin<br>Will drive your pauper's hearse! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Tong kicked the door in with his boot, <br>Then ducked, and fell instead, <br>A blade came snaking to the floor<br>And Tong had lost his head! <br>It rolled unknowing down a stair<br>And landed, staring up, <br>From diamonds, rubies, sapphires, <br>And gem encrusted cups.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The coffin was magnificent, <br>A massive copper sheath, <br>And round about, such artefacts<br>That gleamed, beyond belief, <br>Wang couldn't stop, he crawled right down<br>And over Tong's dead form, <br>I screamed a warning, turned and ran, <br>And cursed that I'd been born! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I never saw Wang Bin again, <br>I made my way outside, <br>I slunk back home and hid for weeks, <br>I'd lost face, and my pride! <br>As Wang went down those chamber steps<br>I just wished that I'd hid, <br>For as Wang reached the jewels, I saw<br>The coffin raise its lid! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">15 January 2010</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=David+Lewis+Paget">David Lewis Paget</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=365836" data-title="Robbing the Tomb de David Lewis Paget" data-description="The year was bad, the crops were burnt, 
The dragon turned his back, 
The River Wei was almost dry
The earth was brown, and cracked, 
The peasant army, risen up
Destroyed the House of Chin, 
Set fire to all their palaces, 
Their army turned and ra..."></div>
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