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small and emptied woman you lie here a thousand years dead
your hands on your diminished loins flat in this final bed
teeth jutting from your unwound head your spiced boned black and dried,
who knew you and kissed you and kept you and wept when you died;
died you young had you grace? Risus sardonicus replied.
Then quick I siezed my husband's hand while he stared at his bride.

2007-02-22 12:47:44 · 2 answers · asked by Jane D 1 in Arts & Humanities Books & Authors

2 answers

IG is looking at a mummy.
Emptied: was she eviscerated for the embalming process, or is she just referring to being empty of water?
Unwound head---she was wrapped up, now unwrapped.
Spiced bones---sounds like a reference to the embalming process. Bodies used to be embalmed with herbs and spices.
Risus sardonicus is the phenomenon of the lips pulling back in a kind of open grimace, with eyebrows raised; a symptom of tetanus, but in this case a result of after-death contractions. It looks macabre.
IG, seeing this woman's body, sees her own mortality and her husbands; apparently he does also. He stares at her, and she seizes his hand.

2007-02-22 18:26:41 · answer #1 · answered by The First Dragon 7 · 1 0

In The Museum Isabella Gardner

2016-12-14 18:31:49 · answer #2 · answered by florina 4 · 0 0

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