"[...]And these hands: did your lover
Dentition complete, though worn, central incisors shoveled,
No crowding or malocclusion, mild enamel hypoplasia.
admire their grace? I cannot see what he most
loved about you: your intelligence and wit, the soft brown
skin in its smooth contours, a laugh that rose from the heart. Your
Age at death, from uncertain causes, about thirty years, derived
From epiphysial union and cranial suture fusion.
abandoned skull has answers to all my questions, and your
extinct
thoughts hold a mystery no science of mine
will ever solve. You have taken your life
into the void. So be it." (Brian Harrison)
This reminded me of another poem that Languagehat reproduced earlier this month, about other types of treasures that are lost, and will be lost, from "abandoned skulls" - ours included. Excerpt:
"Words wrapped round your tongue today
And broken to shape of thought
Between your teeth and lips speaking
Now and today
Shall be faded hieroglyphics
Ten thousand years from now.
Sing-and singing-remember
Your song dies and changes
And is not here to-morrow
Any more than the wind
Blowing ten thousand years ago." (Carl Sandburg)