Spirit Bride

The news story is here.

She cost me sixteen hundred dollars, live
but she was worth two thousand dollars dead.
"Rich men will pay well for a spirit wife,
and you get half," the undertaker said.

He liked her, so he sent me out to buy
another girl for another grave.
I guess they'll take it with them when they die
or so they think-- that's why they scrimp and save.

Fantastic tombs are Shaanxi's only claim
(the Emperor's buried here, I'm sure you know)
to any sort of everlasting fame--
we get to keep the grave-goods when we go.

I think it must be cold, sleeping beside
a murdered girl who's your spirit bride.