'Golden Mummies of Egypt': A poem by Harry Sharples

3,000 years they say it’s been

3,000 years! And still she’s seen

3,000 years have ended thus:

Displayed in some sarcophagus

Her father was a man from Kush

Her father, now, has turned to dust

Her father can’t be with her here

Beside her, as we poke and peer

She lies there and is all alone

She lies apart from all she’d known

She lies in this inspected tomb

As empty eyes stare back from doom

The mummy, now, she lies preserved

The mummy, now, is so observed

The mummy, now, she lies exhumed

Poor child of Kush! So long entombed

The body’s limbs all now are ancient

The body’s here for entertainment

The body which once knew such freedom

Dead now – in Manchester Museum.