The Emperor’s Terra Cotta Army (discovered in 1974)

Unearthed from oblivion

they stand ready for his next

command be it stand down

and recede into a new oblivion

or battle the army that he knows

in his bones is waiting to attack 

But this mighty army has yet to fight.

They just stand as they have for over two

thousand years and serve without a word.

Chariots, archers, infantry, horses and

even acrobats await his pleasure like

a huge machine prepped but never run.

We ache with souls too full of words,

but before there was poetry this army

stood in formation and in their silence

became themselves a poem.  A poem

where today we can still fall-in and stand.

FG 4/28/2013

All rights reserved by the author Forrest Greenwood.