(no subject)

The Lips of Statues


I kiss you for alchemy, to guard the formulas
for planetary metals & luminous substances,
for mercury, the integrative principle,
the secret of temperature. I kiss you
for the names on your tongue: cinnabar,
mosaic gold, gypsum, green vitriol, names kept
in labeled glass vials, confirming my suspicions.
For copper, blood; for bronze, ancient warlords;
for silver, an owl’s wingspan.
I kiss you, unhumbled by phosphorus—light
trapped in matter cannot burn me.