Inkpot Gods (Alchemical Journeys #4)

Book III. Iron

BOOK III

Iron

All the earth and air

With thy voice is loud,

As when night is bare,

From one lonely cloud

The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflow’d.

—Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To a Skylark”

Underpass Mary’s not long been a god.

She was once only salt stains and rust,

But faith can work wonders and now that’s her job

Ever patient, she does what she must.

Daily they bring her their candles and prayers—

The skeptic, the hopeful, the proud, with

Strong faith or weak faith or no faith at all

And she does what she can for the crowd,

And she gives them what comfort’s allowed.

—Talis Kimberley, “Underpass Mary”