Element Poem

            air / fire

Late at night—
when the fire beneath the athanor stutters—
the face hatching within the vessel
resembles mine:

the way the head seems
unattached to a body,
then rises like a speckled bird
from the leaves of ashes—

            fire / earth

You now understand
why the Philosopher insisted
those two figures,
kneeling,
lifting their hands,
assumed by 'certain feeble spirits'
to be praying,

are not praying,
are not even thinking of prayer,

but consigning the light within themselves
to the light they’ve seen
reflected in the fire.

            earth / water

To dissolve, she said,

and she meant
the dross burnt away,

her reflection summoning her
from the depths of the lake,

her reflection pulled down
and down
into the water.

How—weighted by earth and stone—
willingly
she follows.

            water / air

This morning
as I stepped back into my waiting shadow
and cleaned the ashes from the furnace
and swept the soot from the stone floor

I counted the remaining seasons of my life,

needing only my two hands,
opening and closing a few times
like silk wings.

They moved of themselves
as if gathering flowers.