The Quarry

Notes on an Ancient Signary

Notes on an Ancient Signary — The moon, a minus sign; its meaning, less: as sunless, lightless, lifeless: darkness. Because the moon’s world is a lesser one. The sign — was unspoken. • O The sun. The O comprises all; therefore, any sound might be transcribed by O, making its decipherment impossible: a property it takes from its original. • X Two flamepoints meeting with a sound like “kiss,” and meaning double meaning. X was used to seal the dispatches of diplomats, when loving speeches were a mask for war. • S “Where once meandering waters swished through rushes, the serpent of the desert hisses. S signifieth Time’s reverses.” —A tablet in the Wise Man’s House at Hurrukah • 35 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. A dark moon; lesslessness; a zero less its outline; hence, unbounded nothingness. ( ’s presence in the inscriptions is not certain; nor is its absence.) • H Pronounced precisely like the English “h” in “ghost.” The H, in short, was silent, and so was often used in funerary ornament. Its meaning is, and always was, unknown. 36 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...