--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Lambourne, Alfred collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 20 number: 9 published: 1917-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Alfred Lambourne, "To the Mummy of a Cliff Maiden," *Improvement Era* 20, no. 9 (July 1917): 790–791.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2009unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2009unse start_page: 790 end_page: 791 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1917-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2009unse publication_year: 1917 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1917, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # To the Mummy of a Cliff Maiden .MHIIIIIIIIII I llllllll II II I II I I Illllllllltlllllll IMMIIII | 1 1 1 1 II llll II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 II 1 1 ■ I > II II I lllltl 1 1 III II I] I II II 1 1 II Hill A thousand years, ten thousand, who shall tell? What age?, dim and countless, parsed away, The blazing desert suns that rose and fell When this flesh lived no living man might say. Was beautiful, one time, this withered face? Small are thy hands, thy feet. What slender arms! This body once possessed a supple grace, Moved in the savage dance with maiden charms. What longings and what dreams of life were thine, In thy cliff-dwelling lifted to the skies? Wert joyous in thy days, or didst thou pine, Did love once glow within those sightless eyes? No answer comes from thee, who long hath slept — What now that once you sighed, or laughed, or wept? E i i i tniiiHiiiiiiiniiiuiinniinHiiiiMMmiiiMiiniiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinn Illinium iimiMimiHHummHmnmuimmiimuMiimmimiimmi miiiihiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiimihiih mi MwiiHiumiiimiHiMHiumi II In immortality what are the years? Uncounted ages are as moments fled; Grow aged and crumble may the blazing spheres; But not the soul which left this dust but dead. Thy tribe has vanished, lost to us its speech, The dwellings of the cliffs are in our sight; And yet no legend to our time may reach, Thy people's fate is lost in darkest night. Were thine eyes dusky, once as desert dew, As thou didst look upon the southern moon? That was so long ago! Thy days were few, No end to time, thy earthly days gone soon. This ancient dust but speaks of death's own power Where now thy part immortal, deathless flower? iiHiimiimimmtmimimiiiiimmii iiiiiinii Himmimii iiiiiiiiini mmmiiiiiiiiiiiii iimiiimmiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiii uimmmnr.