From the adit holes come breathing
Gold dust from the mountain seething
And Indians laboring with summary pants
Hoist the gold into totemic mill stamps
And with 70 beats per minute, the cams blast.
It’s ancient Mercury whose water kisses
The narrow isthmus on its way to sea;
There the natives seldom see a sun
That hasn’t drunk from river San Juan
A vision eating ancient manioc
Upon the Pacific Zion where their kings
Once flocked, decked with cotton and straw
Root crops were the staple foods
Mandioca, tapioca and Mazamorra
And as this dream unfurled in dust
Like palpitant coffee in a sunlight colored rust
Mercury with shoes on backward
Buried his seed in woman-pregnant meanders
Illuminated the fish like Maundy Thursday candles
And spread the dream like straw in a totem’s ears
Gold and mercury marry and divorce
To be caught in black nets perforce
Spills to the ground its silver seed for reuse
And makes for Babylon pregnant dreams
Of eating manioc by the Pacific seam once more
Mercury that brings us visions
Of cassava on a fructifying shore
Under dirty gossan caps, meteoric water and large axe handles
The light of the Indian candles finds
A new and smiling seem once more.
Beauty is Imperfection 