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Displayed in the coin shop window 
below the Spanish doubloons and Flemish guilders, 
in a row of talismans on felt cushions, 
a gold disc deflects a ray of moonlight.

The sea-green card beneath it reads: 
DISC EMPLOYED BY JOHN DEE (1527-1608) 
WHO TRIED TO LEARN THE SECRETS 
OF NATURE FROM ANGELS.

This same John Dee, court mathematician, 
was a close friend to Sir Walter Ralegh 
and Thomas Hatriot, the first man 
to map the lunar surface with a telescope.

The language Dee invented for communicating 
with angels he called “Enochian.” 
His partner, Edward Kelley, was a medium 
and a forger, whose ears had been lopped off.

Coins of the realm were Kelley’s specialty. 
Later, he was murdered in prison. 
Dee died impoverished, reduced to casting 
horoscopes in a provincial town.

He was reputed to be the model for Prospero. 
His gold disc is ringed with concentric circles. 
A sun at its center; a cross; four stone archways.

And hieroglyphics that hold the key 
to what he learned from the angels, 
which he never shared with anyone.