Old Magician

[digital-draft music track]
Old Magician by konst mp

[lyrics]
a very old, very sick
magician once said to
his assistant: awk.

what's that? said the
assistant.

awk, said the magician,
by which i mean, for
god's sake listen to
my last commands.

o.k., said the assis-
tant: shoot.

mix one newt's egg.

yep.

with one toad's eye.

yeah.

with 15 measures of
cinnabar;

say the alexandrine
incantation.

& put it under a cold
stone to cool.

that all? said the
assistant. no goat's
blood?

no goat's blood.

no scream from old
lady?

no scream from old
lady, said the magi-
cian.

how long do you want
it to cool?

4 days, said the magi-
cian.

& then?

then pour it into a
hole in the ground.

what's supposed to
happen then?

i'll tell you then,
said the magician.

the assistant did just about
as he was told:
in fact, by the time he had
disobeyed, obeyed,
& disobeyed again,
he had gotten
the whole thing right:
ingredients mixed,
incantation spoken,
solution cooled
& poured into the ground.

all right, said the
assistant, now what do we expect?

nothing, said
the magician.
expect nothing.

nothing? said
the assistant.
then what did we
do the experiment
for?

all my life, said
the magician,
i've wanted to do
an experiment
that hoped for nothing
& accomplished nothing.

and now? said the
assistant.

i think i've done
it, said the magi-
cian. go out in the
garden & look.

the assistant went
out & was back in a
minute.

master, he said, in
the place in the garden
where i dug the hole
a tree is growing:
a golden tree

it has golden fruit
the color of newt's eggs

golden leaves, the
color of toad's eyes

a living trunk, the
color of cinnabar

& sings, it sings
like a tree full of
birds.