Since, once again, I am emmeshed in Borges, it seems like a good time to post this thirty-year-old ficcione

Pipe Dream

In his 'Book of Imaginary
Beings' Borges tells of a
Muslim myth that the Earth
is held by an angel standing
on a rock of ruby that rests
on the back of a bull, Kujata.

& further, that this beast
is supported by Bahamut , a fish
so immense that all the waters
of the world placed in one
of its nostrils would be like a
mustard seed set in the desert.

Beneath Bahamut   is a sea above
an abyss of air; beneath air
is fire; & beneath fire is a
serpent so great that were it not
for its fear of Allah, it might
swallow up the whole of creation.

They stop there. But I suspect
that at the bottom of everything is
Hassan-i-Sabbah, the first assassin
& the father of grass, & he is
either dreaming us all or, at the
very least, blowing kif smoke

into the snake's face, to keep it happy.