Secrets in Stone

MAGPIE TALES

http://magpietales.blogspot.com

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SECRETS IN STONE

Your secret died when you died too, Girolamo.

The knowledge that was yours and yours alone.

Only you could take the bodies of dead people

And turn them, just like statues, into stone.

They lie, we know not where, and they are waiting

For another miracle-worker to arrive,

To breathe life into their cold, unfeeling bodies,

And let them, warm and moving, come alive.

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Girolamo Segato (1792 – 1836) was an Italian naturalist, cartographer, Egyptologist, and anatomist.He participated in several archaeological expeditions to Egypt, where he became an expert in the techniques of mummification; however, most of his studies undertaken during these trips were lost. Upon his return to Florence in 1823, Segato developed a technique similar to mummification, but unique: rather than simply removing water from cadavers, Segato's method consisted of what appears to be mineralization or "petrification". He, virtually, turned corpses into stone! Segato took to the grave the secret of technique he developed, which despite numerous studies and attempts to imitate, remains mysterious. He died in 1836 at only 44 years, and was buried, along with his secret, in the Basilica of Santa Croce.

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QUAGMIRE!

Old, old words...... 'quag' and 'mire';

One of these has been forced to retire.

'Mire' on its own is 'to be held fast';

We use it still so its day's not passed.

'Quag', on the other hand, meaning  'bog'

Is a place of mud and slop and sog.

I must say I've never heard it said

And it seems to me the word is dead.

Put them together, you get 'quagmire',

A place of danger dark and dire.

A place where one 'is held fast by mud'....

And that's enough to chill the blood!

The lady above may not survive!

The mud may gobble her up alive!

Politicians get 'mired' in debate;

Unable to move; in a parlous  state.

And a 'quagmire' can be of a mental kind,

When we're in a 'bogged down' state of mind.

But 'quag' on its own, I'm afraid, is dead!

Just an old word that once was said.

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