The Dowager Empress of China
Fattened like a Buddha
Filled her mouth with the state jewels
Kept her talon nails
Long, curved and blood red
Like ancient lacquered knives
Protecting her from her own subjects.
When she died her ivory teeth
Were the color of gravestones
Sealing the ancient vault of royal diamonds
Until the revolutionaries
Slit her throat
Yielding finely carved jewels
Dazzling in blood
Filled her mouth with the state jewels
Kept her talon nails
Long, curved and blood red
Like ancient lacquered knives
Protecting her from her own subjects.
When she died her ivory teeth
Were the color of gravestones
Sealing the ancient vault of royal diamonds
Until the revolutionaries
Slit her throat
Yielding finely carved jewels
Dazzling in blood
~ Gwen C. Murray
