Deathbeds In the Desert -

The sand is stained red with our bygone blood, the blood that brought us from Ararat to the Alti, a tribe trekking intrepidly through the Eurasian terrain, caravans of Caucasians clad with Celtic tartan twills plaids upon the pale horse heros of prehistory settling the stupefying steppes one generation after another with our sublime stamina for millennia humming deep dreams through high mountain dawns reaching the rugid rim of the Tarim Basin long before China was to breathe and begin, Destiny always adrum in our gemstone eyes silken hair of gold, auburn and copper candling the firelight of open life braiding beauty and bravery beyond the shoulders of sorrow, emblems of the spinning Sun and rebirth tattooed simply into our reddened ivory skin, The Silk Road was our road for eons before the Han Chinese had the army and arts to do business with the West through the Jade Gate, We were the Yuezhi, the white tigers of Xinjiang, trade masters of the Taklamakan treasures, we rode our horses and hopes into this ancient hinterland's wild hush for the love of fresh frontier, the winds didn't wait for secrets to be sown nor did the seasons ask Time to come home, the river deltas kept the sands shy and far away, in oriental nights the torches of our Tocharian tribe gave tribute to timeless and merry mysteries, Buried were we in boats of poplar patience to bespeak our escape from the Flood fate ephedra and feathers bestowed for our farewell the kurgan complete in the wheel of the Sun, We are the Aryan artifacts of an undeniable Age an enigma arisen to testify for awoken truth, unearthed to unravel the beauty of our journey - J.A.B. 2019 This poem has been inspired by the enchanting mummified bodies and artifacts discovered in the Tarim Basin of western China which testify to the existence of a very ancient Caucasian people whom inhabited the region more than 4,000 years ago and who were the predecessors of the marvelous Tocharian Culture that thrived throughout Central Asia and northwest China until, circa, 700 A.D. I admire the devotion and expertise of Doctor Victor Mair, a Professor of Chinese Studies from the University of Pennsylvania whom has conducted extensive research personally in and around Xinjiang Province with other passionate scholars including Elizabeth Wayland Barber, an expert in ancient textiles whom published the fascinating book, The Mummies Of Urumchi in 1999. It is crucial to keep in mind that the oldest burial complex yet discovered dating to circa 2,000 B.C. is evidence of a culture that lived and flourished in this part of modern China well before 2,000 B.C....Justin A. Bordner