The Library Cave

We can spend millenniums
Sealed in darkness, no problem,
So long as nothing eats us.

When Wang Yuanlu discovered
The Mogao Caves’ Dunhuang
Manuscripts, the words themselves

Remained in pretty good shape
After no one had read them
In more than nine hundred years.

You do need to keep a thread
Of languages you can tie
To interpretation’s kites

To fly across those chasms
Of all your generations
Perished since you last saw us.

Once in a while, you lack that,
Can’t decipher what’s been left
At Harappa or Knossos.

But maybe you’ll unlock us
Even there, since we’re always
Marks made by the likes of you,

And understanding us starts
With you understanding you.
We’ll be waiting, once you do.