Terra Cotta Soldiers

In thousands, they departed
To defend, to extend
The divided empire
Claims and constant threat
Extension of empire and pride
The emperor’s command
The prolonged intoxication
From opium and mercury

Leaves all he had
No questions asked
His home and friends
His youth and books
In search for glory,
In search for peace

Years of campaigns
From north to south
The learning of this trade
Through death and disease
the only enemy, existence
the prolonged battles
Through vows of survival
Through promise of return
Back to his home,
Books and normality

Years later,
The young soldier
Summoned to present, the plan
In presence, of the emperor
Stands he now, to formulate
New strategies and tactics
The old experiences
from northern campaigns
To keep alive, the concept
Woven in silk and paper



Began he by saying
the story of his existence
built from clay and anger
the ferocious routines
never you will have peace
realise you must,
the enemy within us
the old desire, to rule
protect we must, what is ours
accept we must, others
the absolute beauty
invitation of peace

I have served you well,
Let me leave, let me abandon
those campaigns of the past
the insistence still there
from the old advisors
keepers of the greed and politics
one final request, one last wish
the emperor’s verdict






So it began, the story
Of one last wish,
One final gift
Build we will,
From clay and wisdom
The soldiers of spirit
Witnessed I have, in thousands
The faces, the lands
The turmoil and its beauty
Defend they will,
In death, as they did when alive
Like spirits for thousand years
Travel they will now
To farthest places,
Their courage and strength
Formidable in their stance
Return them, their books
Return them, their youth
Return them, their home
The unified land and peace


As clocks of time ticked
Through history and civilisations
Still there, the old story
The young soldier
Formidable and strong
His friends in distant past
The soldiers of clay
The displayed faces !
kashkin