Travel Haiku - Terra Cotta Warriors At Washington National Geographic Museum Poem by john tiong chunghoo

terra cotta warriors
museum goers'
rumbling tone

2,000 years on
Chin's men march
into Washington

cold, gentle, upright
chin army lines up
to greet washington

awed eyes watched
slit eyed
terra cotta soldiers




The largest collection of terra cotta figures and tomb artifacts ever to visit the United States from China will conclude its tour at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, D.C., from November 19,2009, to March 31,2010. Unearthed outside the Chinese city of Xi'an in 1974, this trove of archeological treasures includes thousands of life-size clay figures that were buried in massive underground pits to accompany China's first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, into the afterlife.