chemistry kit, open lid,
leather straps bearing
hand crafted latin verses
beneath bubbles floating in vials
next to powdery scripts,
elemental table explaining
consequences on molecular time,
weather worn fingerprints
decode inscriptions,
uncork waxed seals with
the sharp blade of a knife,
pierced deeply into the vein
dripping with spells in need
of correction, vowels and cons-
anants distorted by a
sideshow circus and its
funny house, all smoke
and mirrors, remove the shroud
from the clock, find gabriel's face
laughing, blowing horns at twelve
and calling to lost souls,
glowing green florescent figures
dancing in the flames, sapphire night
painting the darkness,
burning deeply like wagging tongues
fanning sulfur from across the sea,
circular motion on a hidden ruby
bursting into diamond droplets
of ecstasy, liquid ivory melting
on the tip of a ram's horn
placed slowly within its sheath, the truth
passed between their lips
as apprentice and
master look hell and all
its legions in the face
and begin picking up the fruit
of a paradise lost and found.