Garden of Sacred Idylls (1675) - Page 12

Look with intent eyes upon the attached Serpent,

As the voice of the thrice-great Arch-physician commands.

From nowhere else will salvation be expected: Nothing will avail

Here for the alipta anointing trainer/physician, even if he be most skilled.

It is not a human work to lift the sad cacoethes malignant disease,

And the wound, which the lethal serpent has brought.

In desperate matters JEHOVA God alone, the best Savior,

Knows how to bring salvation.

Death in the pot. 2 Kings 4.

Behold, the clever cook prepares a rich supper,

And readies dainty dishes for the incautious gullet.

But you, guest, whom the pleasant aroma entices,

If you are wise, refrain from plucking the served-up feast.

More safely will you taste Hippomanes a plant or secretion used in sorcery, which drips from the mare's womb,

Or the poison that the viper vomits.

Truly, the fatty foods are boiling with the poison of the Eumenides the Furies,

And the game spread with salt is stiff with the cold of Persephone.

You will bite oysters extracted from the Lethean of oblivion deep,

You will eat mushrooms, such as Claudius the Roman Emperor ate.

A cake seasoned with Stygian sulfur will be set,

And the food will betray Phlegethon the river of fire with a heavy odor.

Finally, Circe the sorceress will mix cups for you in the belly,

So that the cruel toxins may hasten the death of your soul.

I will say what is the matter: You will devour a funeral feast,

Which luxury prepares with Colchian magical art, the cook.

Therefore, so that the pestilential food may not cause your destruction,

Let it be left to be torn apart by the dire screech-owl.