The Poor Alchemist

Do you remember
the story
of the first true alchemist?
I know I’ve told you, but
If not,
grant me a moment
to remind you

There once was a man
A good man
A man who had given his best
to all those who deserved it.
And even many
that didn’t.
But over time,
through luck or unluck
He found
himself barren, lost,
In a place quite foreign.
nothing to his name
Dwindling
Alone
And sadness began,
slowly at first,
then much more sudden
Though he had tried
with all his might
To build a life
He had nothing,
no one to share
that nothing with,
and nothing to harvest
his nothing from.
He toyed with the idea
of setting to sea,
But even then,
he could think of no earthly port
to sail to
He feared succumbing
to some perilous storm
as time stretched
The storm itself
seemed as good a destination as any

But then
one unexpected day,
As these things do come
He met
A damsel
A wonderful and sweet and perfect lady
Surpassing all fathoms
of beauty and wondrousness
And he fell
in love
Instantly
The love of his life
Surely he had met,
And perfectly the same
she felt too.
Thus, on another one day
This man set out
To meet and ask
her father
For her eternal company

This girl, his love,
Polaris incarnate
had a father
potent and far reaching,
he exclaimed,
his daughter,
would marry no pauper.
The man
to take his daughters hand
must have riches
exceeding even his own.

So the man
Dared
He would become thus
deemed deserving
Told his love
he had port to sail
To chase the stories
of an alchemist
On the distant coast
A man who could turn
stones
to gold.
And he vowed to learn
the mystic secrets
To make the impossible
so
Seeking triumph
He left

It’s said
After ages of sailing
He met
the Alchemist
and begged
Pleaded,
To learn his secrets
He told
of his eternal love
And so, he learned
of the
”secrets”
False ones fully.
Tricks of eye and hand.
No magic laid in his laboratory
But parlor tricks, and foolish marks

So he left
to find another
And one he did
Once again
with begs and pleas
To unearth the same
fiendish feats
So another
And another
He was
Adrift
gone and lost and knowledgeless
Far poorer
than ever
So he tried
Desperately
on his own.
To accomplish the impossible
He vowed
to not cease
Until
He could foot
the fated task

Years passed
The poor alchemist,
studying,
Toiling,
Perspiring,
To make these
petty pebbles gilded.
Of course
nothing
Barren pits and boiling waste
dictating
no answer.
All wrought
for nothing
Waste and waste and waste
The poor alchemist
was wretched

But then
One noon
Like that
(snap!)
It came to him
One sudden rush
So so so simple
The answer
Alas,
all too easy,
dumbingly simple
The way to truly turn
stone to gold
Had laid before him
The entire time
Striking, but subtle
He rushed
To tell his love the news

Bolting in
Bellowing
”Darling, dearest, love, my sweet”
I have found it!
The way!
It was right there
Bare in front of me
All this dreadful time.
This simple, this inane.
”Let me show you”
He exuded
and plucked
a random stone
from daring earth.
”watch”
He clutched his hand
slowly over the stone
And his fist began to tremble
In the effort

And then
Our poor alchemist, gently
uncurled his hand
To reveal
gasp
bare stone!
Unaltered,
ungilded,
Unchanged!
He let his breath finally out
With the deepest of satisfaction.

Perplexed,
His love leaned in
further
to study
Her confusion.
A smile,
wicked
across the alchemist’s
Sodden face.
Beaming,
Nigh transcendent,
as if god had just nodded themself,
he uttered,
In the earnest of tones:
“You see,
the trick is,
not minding that it isn’t”

His love stared back
Uncertain
Of what was next to come
But,
she could not deny
how much heavier
the air
So suddenly felt

— W.w.