Plundered

I have heard of this splendid room
Full of ancient hopes and dreams
Neatly arranged and cataloged
Brightly lit with accompanying notes

Then there is you
Perfect in repose
Breathtaking

Saddened I look into your smooth leathery face
I wonder
Does your ka reside here still?
Listening to the dulcet tones of academics
Leading gaggles of pubescent teens

Do they giggle as children will
Separated from your life by three millenia
Separated from your death by a perspex case

Yet are you not of the favored?
Though stripped of dignity
Robbed of humanity

Surely better an object of academic interest
Than a Victorian parlor curiosity
Or ground into a bitumen jar?

Removed from peace everlasting
There is so much we can learn

Prodding, poking, examining, cataloging

But what more
Do we discern
About ourselves?