Taking the PPC4 - 52 Weeks of Poetry

Prompt 30 (19th February 2024)

Gateway

Scented air, heavy with smokey incense clouds.
The thurible replenished frequently,
grains of precious gum, rare resins, and aromatic barks
smoulder slowly on the charcoal briquets.

Floor clearly marked with chalked lines.
Symbolic shapes inscribed within the circle.
Letters in ancient tongue marking the circumference,
both proscribe and protect the postulants within.

Beyond this perimeter is drawn the triangle,
gateway to another world.
Through which might pass angel or demon
made manifested through age old rules

Lured by soft sibilants, and airy aspirates,
commanded by sword and staff or wand,
by names of power, by will alone
summoned for some purpose

Knowledge, perhaps power,
questions answered, the hidden made found.
Dismissed back through the gateway to whence they came
If you're lucky that is.