In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
1325. One hundred years ago, the first golem was given to the west. A body of cedar, a rough gem of green jade shorn with dao, Truth. It was the first golem given to humanity by the Elemental Dragon of Wood untold ages ago. Golems were made, fought, and lived.
Mansa Musa from Timbuktu
Learn’ed Kornic schools
Round the cedar branch
With beasts of golden mass
Breathed “Truth” in Life.
And the West came back.
The Alexandria night was alive. It was the final evening of the fortnight festival. The air was cooling but laughter and music and shouts filled the air. Wine spilled over cups, dances were spontaneous and enmass. Performancers of any sort crammed into any corner they could establish. Huge puppets sulked high over the heads of the crowd dangling blue and purple limbs. Jugglers threw fire much to the screaming amusement of thronged children.
Solomon cared little for it.
Solomon had a sharpened body of obsidian and leather. His pointed head harsh and unforgiving.
“You promised me we were going to have a fight,” he growled.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
Graham Gentz 