‘BE FORTUNE’S HORSEMAN, not its horse. Ride gold to the end of time’s alley.
Sunbathing in splendour makes a fossil of us all.’
Money elopes to gold like the clothes peg infanta to her prince annually
enriched by meteor showers. Protected from poisons and revolution,
nevertheless he frets about downstairs rumours of social reconditioning
– crypto-utopian nightmare of gold cistern, manacles, ink and chamber
pots; the brass eagle lectern dripping with pondwater, gilded with scum.
1st – The Gold of Springtime
Spring rains reprise their tragic miracle: gold is the earth’s new skin
before the green, requiring sacrifice, the victims flayed and priests dressed
in their hides, stained yellow in the manner of gold leaf and singing
hymns of praise. Seedlings prevail. The flayed god is the goldsmiths’ god.
2nd – Gold and Silver
Silver envies beads running around like mice on the palm of the hand.
It’s a light corsair, racing to strategic positions, mobbing the bullion hulk.
Its pricing is nimble and dangerous, up and down like mercury. Gold is
the fiat of calm, keeping us steady till nightfall, high on the silvery sea.
3rd – The Gold Thread
In a mountain gold rush village, prospectors, children of nature’s desires
drunk on the promise of wealth, tease out their tiny bounty to a hair
threaded from hut to hut through open doors to disseminate their luck –
and weave a web to ensnare the great world’s wandering widow.
4th – Gold’s Absence from the Upper World
The rainbow’s mission is to renovate the ordinary – while signposting the
vulgar carnal miracle. Treasure Island gleams only in the promise of its
sunrise. Spraying teasels should be outlawed and in some parishes may be.
Gold that never stays prompts whispers that procreate in the shadows.
5th – The Gold Bullion
The Higgs Boson heist is legendary. A wheezing Ford Transit rides
through the Kentish night, low on its suspension. The smelt boss, trapped
in a sting, learns the promise of Ecstasy in prison. The gangmeister buys a
rock star’s mansion and two Rottweilers he names Higgs and Boson.
6th – The Gold Medal
Podium risk assessment is the new frontier of the sporting profession –
leaving aside performance. Victors mustn’t bite too hard on their medals:
there’s a slippery snake of copper as well as a quantum of silver. Comet
trails of ribbons are the tipster’s pick for long-term gain and glory.
All six – The Golden Fleece
The Austrian pastoral cadaver is plumper than the Spanish. When
armour’s worn, the badge may be engraved into the steel; sometimes
it’s gilt. A heart of faith purges the memory of profligate pagan odysseys.
Onwards! This golden fleece is Gideon’s, soaked in the dews of heaven.
♦
Introduction to Six-Way Mirror | The Index of Hexagrams and Cantos
