bodies of agate. ^† Draw close the bones of this biddable metal:                chalice & ingot, gilt saints on cypress planks,Agamemnon’s mask unearthed. Sulfur & salt: the alchemist’s                scarred hands. Think men upon their kneesbefore the riverbed for that Black Hills silt, that sluice                long girdled in the zigzag crack. Othat lucre. The worshipful company’s murderous guilds—                It’s too late now to look away from that bright flame,too late to take the value back from filigree                or sacred blade, ransom-gilded Seric, idol,from hidden trove or gently beaten fleece. South                of Ulaanbaatar cranes decorate the skyline.In the Congo children work the pit shifts. Mercury & silica                will grace the margins of each living membrane’stender stem & inch of lymph. All flesh thus tempered,                thus fixed in the mine’s dark mouth.Ûdwr. Meaning divine water.                Physika kai mystica: the secret things.Our guide in Potosí lighting his cigar with dynamite:                “No se preocupe, trabajo par Sendero Luminoso!” Handscupping the bright flame. Tracing the halo.                The hoards turned up by English plowmen, amuletsin shafts along the overpass. Shields beaten thin                & dropped unearthly to your brokerage screen, leverageon the scale of equity. Percolated, according to Theophilus,                from vinegar, red copper, human blood & ash of basilisk.? ^†Ezra Pound, “The Alchemist” ?Consult page 54 for how to grow a basilisk.