Smith and the Demon

Metallurgy magic marks the moment
Artifice started directing itself.
No such moment of course in the chorus
Of sparks showering air from the anvil.

The most ancient wonder tale is the one
In which the artificer of metals
Makes and then breaks a peculiar bargain
For supernatural power with a trickster.

How did the potter avoid infamy?
How did the maker of fire get to be
The trickster God ogre personified,
The coyote, weasel Prometheus?

The fire before the kiln, kiln before gold
And copper and weaponized lost-wax molds.
It's the smith who meets Mephistopheles;
The alchemist's tempted to become Death.

Demon was the idea of deviltry,
The idea that annealed in the alloy
The moment smith passed success for success
Of a design, that moment birthed design.