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Of Quicksilver

Of masks we are

Of facades, unaccommodating

Of facets, shapely yet vague

Of faces, lifelessly alive

We, the silvery mirrors

Of bars we are

Of gates, unwieldy yet meek

Of weights, encumbering

Of grids, incarcerating

We, the cages

Of walls we are

Of battlements, miserably offensive

Of hedges, decoratively blunt

Of meshes, visibly blinding

We, the cells

Of streams we are

Of water, runny and slippery

Of blood, life-giving yet repulsive

Of soul, flexibly rigid

We, the quicksilver

Imprisoned in cells

Wrapped in cages

Of silvery mirrors

We, the thermometers, the gauges

Not the heat

Let's break the glass

and set the quicksilver free

Let it roam around

Quick and silvery

Nimble and merry

Reflective and reflexive

Decomposing and recomposing

Let it fly

Volatile and free

Invisible, heat itself

Let it live

Let it fly.

Raman Ramsin

2006

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