in a perspex box on permanent display
in the national museum of slovenia
is a neanderthal bone flute found in a cave
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the snow fell thickly beyond the cave
as cold hands skillfully drilled the bone
then tentatively raised it up to play
sixty thousand years ago

and what are you left with here in this place?
so many long years swept away
the ghostly reflection of your face
an echo of song in your DNA