SERPOPARDS



Twin lionesses with snaking necks entwined,
statant dexter, in cryptid caduceus, ancient
questing beast out of the dimmest shadow of
Egypt and Mesopotamia: two halves of a riddle.

Cosmetics were mixed in the depression
where their necks loop over each other in
figure-eight knot to make a depression on
an ancient palette. They guard official seals.

One represents the dark chaos beyond the walls
of benevolent king-craft, Pharaoh and Gilgamesh;
the other is the chthonic life force erupting up
through barren earth in ever-renewing Spring.

Sekhmet-Apophis, Uridimmu-Bašmu, blended
Leo-Draco in perfect balance: the proto-Aeon,
the pretzel of an ouroboros of harmonious

cosmic equilibrium and eternal renewal.

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