A SUDDEN INTAKE OF BREATH... (My new poem after seeing the coffin mask of Egyptian King Amenemope, at a Battersea Power Station exhibition...)

 A Sudden Intake Of Breath…

(Catching a glimpse of Amenemope’s gilded coffin mask…)

The exhibition hall was atmospherically lit, as jewellery artefacts glistened with ancient gold,

Rich colours adorned painted reliefs, whilst statues and busts of sculpted stone glowed

Drawing gazes of wonder at the skilled craftsmanship of wonders on display.

Mummified animals, even small coffins for mummified scarab beetles vied with the presence

Of Ramses, his legacy and his achievements somehow pervading

The exhibition space, until I turned a corner and what I saw caused an intake of breath…

It was a face with a solemn, intriguing expression, with cold

Yet perceptive eyes, the pupils and make-up with inlaid bronze endowed.

And I gasped at the slight smile, rather mystical and fey,

But engaging and somehow arresting in its simplicity and essence.

The delicate coiled cobra upon the headcloth, its colours striking 

Impressed upon Amenemope’s gilded wooden coffin mask, an enchantment eked out of death…

Pete Ray…

24th May 2026…  

Precious objects were found in Amenemope’s tomb chamber in 1940 but his mummy had been moved to the tomb of his parents, Psusennes I and Mutnodjmet.

The coffin is now missing but the gilded mask was startling when I saw it in Battersea Power Station’s ‘Ramses and the Gold of the Pharaohs’ exhibition recently…