Sprout (Notevember 2021, #20)

In days of yore I wandered
Was a rover in my youth
All across the land I sauntered
And I learned a most remarkable truth

There are wonders out there, waiting
Could be many still about
Though this tale I am narrating
It is always met with doubt

I’ve seen giants roam the water
I’ve seen mountains spewing ash
I have met the Devil’s daughter
And watched elephant bulls as they clash

Peaks and valleys, rivers daunting
But the greatest I have seen
Leaves all other miracles wanting;
‘Tis the “gold among the green”
—

I was visiting an island
And was wandering a moor
Just an ordinary highland
Like ones I’d seen plenty of before

But a glint beckoned me over
To an odd botanical find
‘Twas a single golden clover
With no neighbors of its kind

Back then I had no idea
What it was that I had found
Legendary panacea
Growing right there on the ground

No illusion and no trick, it
Had a true and bonny sheen
Yet I did not think to pick it
Oh, that gold among the green
—

Much later I heard folks telling
It was better than tonics and pills
That it marked a faerie’s dwelling
And could cure all known ailments and ills

But in men, it’s known to cause madness
Where you found it, you soon will forget
So that, though it may save one from sadness
No one’s brought home a specimen yet

From the last time that I had to leave you
There is nothing I do not recall
How you smiled, even though it did grieve you
Good and bad, I remember it all

From the light, and your face that it danced upon
To the tone of the banshee’s keen
But I forgot the place where I chanced upon
The gold among the green
—

No matter how far, my beautiful,
and no matter how wide I explore
My dutiful search is unfruitful
I can find the golden leaf no more

Now I’m angry and regretful
Though I know I’m not to blame
For the plant made me forgetful
The stories all tell me the same

But now that you are ailing
And you tell me you don’t have long
My task is close to failing
But my heart is ever strong

So I send you this final letter
Before I sail to lands yet unseen
In hopes that I might make you better
with the gold among the green