Celebrity

Although a relatively minor monarch,  reigning for a short number of years, Tutankhamun has perhaps achieved the greatest 'immortality' of all the Pharoahs- thousands of tourists flock to Cairo to visit his remains and photograph his tomb in the Valley of the Kings 6,000 years later.  

This wasn't the immortality I sought

when I ordered my tomb to be packed tight

with golden goods and royal riches.

I planned for their usefulness in the afterlife 

where I would mingle humbly with the gods,

my status as pharaoh understated, understood.

My tomb was sealed, to prevent thieves

from robbing me of my greatness;

it stood six thousand years. 

Then came the greatest thieves of all,

plundering my tomb, stripping my riches;

Demotion to the lowest rung amongst the gods.

My fragile body now lies back in its tomb, exposed, 

without its outer casings, no sarcophagus,

no gold, no lapis, no turquoise, no coral.

My trappings lie many miles away,

inside glass cases, admired by mortals

from every corner of the world.

Lowly in the afterlife, in the mortal world 

my name is best known of all the Pharoahs,

eclipsing Seti, Hapshepsut, even the great Rameses.

My image shared, adored, revered,

I have assumed my place amongst the stars,

immortal for as long as mortals speak the name: 

            Tutankhamun. 

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