​La Almoloya, Grave 38, by Elizabeth Fletcher

Diadem. Courtesy of the Research Group on “Arqueoecologia Social Mediterrània", Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (foto by José Antonio Soldevilla).

​La Almoloya, Grave 38
 
The silver diadem set upon your head
four thousand years ago
marked you
graced you 
sparked you with sunlight
 
When you strode into your palace hall
your silver earrings chimed with wind song 
 
When you raised your arm, 
the clang of your heavy sterling bracelets
called your parliament to order
 
Your riches surprise the diggers 
Silver cups for drinking wine
a silver dagger near to hand
to greet assassins 
 
Your bones surprise the scholars
Entwined with your consort
You embrace your infant’s father
the scarred warrior who rode into battle
at your command
 
You ruled
not he
 
Iberian queen
 
Your tarnished crown transfixes
 
The fragments of your life
pitted and seared
illuminate 
enthrall
ignite 
 
Questions 
 
You left no hieroglyphs, no runes
no epic saga
But the touchstones of your life
shimmer
charge the air
 
After your burial
Your settlement burned
Your people scattered from the mountain top
vanished 
 
Were they lost without you?
 
Elizabeth Fletcher

Click here to learn more about this artwork and its archeology.

Elizabeth Fletcher’s poems have appeared or are pending in the Ekphrastic Review, The Schuylkill Valley Journal, the Muddy River Review, October Hill, The Dillydoun Review, Ariel Chart, and Tiny Seed Literary Journal, among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Her nature essays on snowy owls and sea turtles have appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer and she is co-author and author of medical education research publications. She has a BA in English and writing from Hamilton College and an MS in Technical Writing from Drexel University.