Acusmata (i)

Pour libations to gods

from the ear of the cup;

don’t craft their images

to wear on your fingers.

Make any sacrifice

barefoot. Put your right shoe

on first, eschew public

roads. Remember, planets

do not love you – they are

vehicles of divine

vengeance: only the moon

and sun can be trusted.

Marvel at silence, try

to be silent for five

years and if all else fails,

recall the tetraktys:

the first four numbers, which

when added together,

equal ten, the perfect

digits – the tetraktys,

the very harmony,

believed Pythagoras

(“chief of the charlatans,”

eye-rolled Heraclitus)
in which the Sirens sing.