As the organ conceived of as residence of the soul, the one the undertakers
undertook to keep ready and whole, a lantern easily available to light, the
presence of a heart is not remarkable. The ceremonial
placement of the body’s other parts—spiced, honeyed, and embalmed or
stuffed, and stored separately in fine jars—would always depend on how far
the individual’s family fortune would extend. The appearance of both the brain
and the lungs still
in their organic places is suggestive then. Consider a child so young the pelvi
s shows no growth toward sexual differentiation—why would it be poorly
preserved? Could its parents not afford the proper burial? What child
does not deserve an afterlife at least healthy and whole? Yes, the presence of the
heart in this case implies not only the limits of things mercantile but also the peri l
of a soul. Though we no longer acknowledge either gods or kings
to have paid the rent on immortality’s house, this relic mocking promises of
eternity still doesn’t rest easy. Girl or boy, that small light you carried into the
rooms of your parents’ flesh is owed you.
