The Alchemist (a Poem)
Forgive me father, for I have sinned.
I’ve hidden from my parents. Told no one but the wind.
There is a jar under my bed where I keep my other secrets.
It’s glowing so bright, I don’t know where else to keep it.
I can’t even bear to tell you now.
Don’t ask me why, I understand nothing about how
To follow my heart down the path carved for me
Without twisting my ankles because I can’t even see
The road beneath my feet, which doesn’t seem to take
Any heed of my heavy and tired heartache.
Why am I blind? Father can’t you tell?
The more I try to find, the quieter the spell.
From roaring in my ear to a slipping, rushing whisper.
From a nursery rhyme to a level three tongue twister.
The jar glows bright if I watch it from afar.
It’s when I reach out to touch it that my vision becomes marred.
Like squinting at a mirage! Which I just learned about in school.
It seems what I reach for makes of me, a fool.
It’s better that I let it stay beneath my bed.
I’ll sleep in peace, and rest my weary head.
Why am I sorry? Why have I sinned?
I imagine it’s God who’s the one to rescind
The light as I reach out my wondering hand
And the song I strain for as I wander that darkening land.
It must be something divinely forbidden
That it so unfailingly succeeds in staying hidden.
Forgive me my curious mind.
It cannot be mine though I feel intertwined
With this beckoning thread of gold-
Glowing brightest while I can’t take hold.
<3 i
Written and edited in 2020
