The Terracotta Warriors
In China’s early history it was customary when the emperor died for servants, slaves, wives, concubines etc to be buried with him in order to continue to serve him in the afterlife. The Emperor Qin changed that by ordering 10,000 life size terracotta warriors to be made and buried with him. Why so many warriors? Well, he’d done some pretty bad things in his time, including burying hundreds of scholars alive, and so he knew that in the afterlife he was going to have a lot of trouble with the spirits. However the terracotta warriors would sort them out. Or would they?
The last days of the Emperor were troubled and forlorn
He was beset by waking nightmare dreams.
Through the veil of darkness separating life from death
He could already hear those demons scream.
He could hear the screams of scholars buried alive in pits of shame
Because they disagreed with what he said;
He could hear the screams of builders buried deep down in the tomb
Dreadful secrets locked inside their heads.
Chorus
Terracotta Warriors marching on
Through the years
The Terracotta Warriors marching on
The Terracotta warriors were all that he had left
Standing darkly all around his tomb.
The Terracotta Warriors were all that he had left
Clay soldiers made to save him from his doom.
Each one a silent image of a servant or a slave
Each detail carefully copied to each face;
As they stood before the sculptures could they have ever known
One day these effigies would take their place.
chorus
The last days of the Emperor brought fear to all the slaves
The servants, scholars, wives and concubines
Was he really going to break the custom of the age
And lie with terracotta warriors by his side.
Would the terracotta warriors with their legs of clay
March with him to the battlefieds of death?
Would they fight off all the demons and gain him dominance
And swear allegiance with their icy breath?
chorus
The Terracota Warriors were lined up in their pits
For two millennia buried in the ground.
Did they desert their Emperor or were they never his
To command as his death slowly came around?
As he breathed in his last breath did he tremble at the thought
That all he really had were statues made of clay,
As the demons took his soul down to the deepest pits of hell
Did the terracotta warriors turn away?
chorus