More Than Statues

Hardened huddled strangers,
mouths of ash,
many returned to fetal form
still giving comfort
in moments last

Children clutching,
babes held to breast,
encased in plaster
and mother's love,
frozen in last gasp

A dog pawing at a gate
a shackled slave
a child alone
I see you here, now,
and I am with you

Deeply personal moments
seared in time
and forever my mind
cut from your tomb - once your home -
walls replaced by velvet ropes

To be viewed by those
in shameless droves
but when my eyes met yours
I too choked on ash
and felt enough shame for us all

Author's Note

Years ago, after excitedly seeing a touring exhibit of artifacts from Pompeii, I turned the corner and was unexpectedly faced with actual body casts from Pompeii. As I watched others snap pictures and smile and chat it left me feeling unsettled, disturbed, sad, and ashamed. Lately I have been thinking about it a lot, so I decided to write it out.

Reviews

[Zugzwang]

I've always been fascinated my the Pompeiian plaster casts....but I don't think I would ever want to see one. They are, after all, a snapshot of a person at the moment of death-preserved for centuries. It's awfully macabre and entirely too disturbing for yours truly.
How sad that people could take pictures of something like that and blithely carry on their merry thoughtless way, without considering the reality of where the plaster casts actually came from.

[Gaia Octavia]

Agreed. I never even thought that the exhibit would include body casts since it was in little 'ol Massachusetts in the US, but unfortunately they did and the exhibit was one-way traffic with the casts at the end. It is something that has stuck with me for years. And not in a good way.

[Zugzwang]

I can see how the advertising people might have been reluctant to emblazon their posters and flyers with the plaster casts. A pity the exhibition people did not . Some things, once seen, cannot be unseen.

[Gaia Octavia]

I can't see how the body casts would be covered under "artifacts" as they were, quite literally, human beings. And a dog but I digress...

[Zugzwang]

You ought to sue them for false advertising :)

[Gaia Octavia]

It was in 2012 so I think I missed the window haha