Recorded by the author at The Mark Twain House & Museum, July 22, 2025
1.Dead things are supposed to stay dead.
they are supposed to lay in the dirt and the mud and the rot
to become nothing but bones in the place they were struck down
for being forgotten by the living is their fate.
2. Dead things are not supposed to wake.
they are not supposed to breathe, for that is for the living
not for the things long buried under clouded lonely mountains
certainly not for the things denied from Dìyù.
3. Dead things are not supposed to crawl out of the ground.
they are not supposed to clamber from the earth
covered in ice crystals and seething with hatred
thirsty for the immortal blood of their killer.
4. Dead things are not supposed to walk among the living.
they are not supposed to creep through back alleys
wearing a drifting cloak and armor from centuries long past
hiding a half-splintered skull dripping with still-soft gore.
5. Dead things are not supposed to have friends.
they are not meant to meet another curious creature
to speak with them like old friends new to this modern world
and dine with them in hidden places of which only they know.
6. Dead things are not supposed to heal.
they are not supposed to let ancient wounds scar
let their shattered skull knit itself back together
cold, still heart flickering with warmth after so so long.
7. Dead things are most certainly not supposed to fall in love.
they are not supposed to share moments of gentle quiet with the living
to kiss the living under Cháng’é’s soft glow
and forget they are dead when they hold the living.
Dead things are supposed to stay dead.
They are not supposed to remember how it is to live.