the augur is the lightning’s fowler
as he lays out traps for the storm
like an egg-robbing boy this prowler
makes for the clutch where a tempest swarms
to watch the white brood of bolts break out
and be briefly inscribed on the sky
words told aloud in dim roars and shouts
where he’s certain there can’t be a lie
sense is captured through context and maps
by the thunderhead speaking in code
while every portent and flash is trapped
to stake truth on the lightning’s road
the truth is - the storm must be fought
and meanings let go once they are caught
Oxford
Blackwells
10 June 2018
Some keraunomancy from the Etrusca Disciplina and Arruns Tarquinius the Soothsayer, as allegedly taught by Tages the divine child. My sense of Roman history is that a few strong and brave minds were always able to turn the tables on the anxiety and fatalism this view of the world caused.