Thaumaturge's Periplus.Sonnet XXVIII

XXVIII. The Arch-Element of Earth

He steps upon a floor of anthracite,Where diamonds grow like fungus in the gloom;The heavy pressure of the inner night,Constructs the walls of this telluric room.Gnomes with eyes of garnet watch him pass,Their skin is lichen and their hair is root;They hoard the secrets of the mountain’s mass,The ripening of the mineralogical fruit.He must become as patient as the stone,To understand the language of the dust;To feel the iron thickening in his bone,And shed the vanity of worldly rust.The center of the world is dense and still,The anchor of the uncorrupted will.A chamber