EGYPTIAN BLACK CAT GODDESS
CHRIST HEAD, HINTON ST MARY
LACHISH JUGGERNAUT
IMPERIAL JADE
SUTTON HOO
PORTLAND VASE
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PORTLAND VASE
Cameo vase for an emperor, whose glassblower first
enlarged a hot glass bubble of pearl white, then trapped
a second glass bubble of cobalt night inside a first
until both cooled and wedded. This milky white
was carved carefully away to reveal breath thin
pale shadows stretched over blue skin. Precious vase,
buried for a thousand years, lost longer than owned
when it was newly made for a rich Campanian villa,
although maybe loved and handled as intensely then
as now. Such perfect beauty infuriates those
whose souls are blighted but delights all others.
Perhaps it carried holy water from a sacred spring
where Muses lived. Perhaps it treasured unguents
or stored potions to renew a fading love. Outside,
a young hero ambles for adventure, blade ready,
questing for a woman’s hand, eager to replace
an older hero’s pet dragon nesting in her soft lap
with his own untamed one. Or, looking back,
an old hero remembers youth and how he found
without seeking what now eludes him. Cupid darts
above, strung bow in hand, a quiver full of mystery,
and he will trade passion for a gambling debt
or just as easily flit like a bird between trees
with no remedy for life other than its brevity.
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