for S.H. vs G.B., 5000 years hence
A man who discovered the 5,300-year-old iceman, Oetzi, in the Alps is now demanding up to $250,000 as a finder's reward. The provincial government of Bolzano where Oetzi is a star tourist attraction, says it is considering its response. The pathologist in charge of preserving him, Egarter Vigl, feels the ancient iceman should be treated with more respect. "We have a human body and in my personal view it's not important if this man died yesterday or five thousand years ago. He is a human being, and he has to be treated as a human being and not as an object."
You left me cold; but after being alone
for such an age, I'm nevertheless intact:
The years preserved some heart, much gall, a bone
or two of contention and hardened skin --
I've now, I'm told, become an artifact,
a relic of a sparer world. My grin
is vacuous enough to hide my shame,
now that I'm seen as something to treasure
instead of scorn. No one knows my name,
nor yours. We're both stripped of our conceits,
but unlike you, I may still give pleasure
to visitors, who ignore my defeats.
My time has past, and yet today I draw
a few who pay to watch me slowly thaw.
22 December 2003 19:41 hours
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