THE TOMB IN THE DESERT

"The avarice of mankind is insatiable." - Aristotle

This poem occurred to me after watching a documentary on tomb robbers in Ancient Egypt. The value of valuables is subjective and context dependent…

The Hidden Tomb

In endless, shifting desert sands
A hidden tomb lies undiscovered;
Far from all sacrilegious hands,
In centuries of dust lies covered.

The wind and sky will sing a dirge
The stars and moon shed tears;
While ghostly shadows urge
Old memories to flee from biers.

A lonely traveller lost will trip
On buried headstone drab,
And with a crazy fervour grip
The ancient broken marble slab.

Here lies treasure, shiny gold
Here rubies, pearls, more jewels.
Much more than he can ever hold,
The endless wealth his avarice fuels.

He fills his pockets clutches treasure,
While desperately he thirsts for water;
He laughs with endless mirth and pleasure,
Forgotten thoughts of wife and daughter.

The desert sands will move and shimmer
The sun will burn and scorch and wither.
A year has passed, his white bones glimmer
Among the bright gold, vipers slither…

The avarice of the miser may be termed the grand sepulchre of all his other passions, as they successively decay. But unlike other tombs, it is enlarged by repletion and strengthened by age. - Charles Caleb Colton