Quest For Gold

The Way

The sky stretched up before his gaze

To a future place in time

The clouds conspired to form a ladder

He knew that he must climb

For to escape the mire of his birth

The curse of being poor

This tender youth would have to learn

The Way of Tooth and Claw

In a jungle made of towering stone

And sinew of the mind

He would have to learn to eat

Or be eaten by his kind

And there could be no mercy spared

Upon his upward flight

His head would have to rule his heart

In the battle for money and might

And passing time, as oft' it does

Rewarded victory well:

His empire all around did rise

Wealth cast its siren spell

He closed his eyes and turned his back

On the place from whence he came

All that connected with his roots

He treated with disdain

At last, the god of Justice stirred

And woke up from his sleep

He sounded out his warning cry:

"What ye sow, so shall ye reap!"

But the goddess Grace, she intervened

And made a gentle plea:

"Give him one more chance, I pray

His harmful ways to see"

So one more chance was granted

Under the veil of night

For a dream to act upon the tycoon's

Stage of inner sight

And if its tale could change his heart

Into a heart that cared

Justice would rethink his fate

And his life be spared

The Dream

A swirling mist, a rising moon

A simple house of stone

Set upon a mountain ledge

Naked and alone

An inner pulse, a flickering

A strange and mystic light

Emanating from within

To tease the dark of night

Within, all is a-bustle

Amidst the flasks and phials

Molten metals, greenish gas

Gauges, clocks and dials

Men in flowing robes of white

Beards and dancing eyes

Expressions of inspired delight

Auras pure and wise

All at once, they cease their work

Not a word was spoken

And turning to their wide-eyed guest

Their arms in greeting open:

"Welcome friend who comes to us

From distant moon-times hence

We will try to serve you well

Our gift is your defence"

"For in your waking life, my friend

You have been mislead

Power, in its seductive ways

Has rendered your heart dead

And the mammon which you worship

Has failed to buy you joy

You have spun yourself a tragic web

A self-deceiving ploy"

"And so your dream has brought you to

This time and place of old

To learn from us our sacred science -

The art of making gold

And if you heed our lessons well

The teachings we shall give

Your prize will be a grand reprieve

A second chance to live"

The Teaching

"Seeker behold, the Way of Gold

Which is from iron wrought

If gold be the treasure of your quest

Your search will come to nought

For to enter upon the Gold-maker's Path

For your mission to succeed

Your heart must be rid of a longing for wealth -

The temptations of power and greed"

"Seeker behold, the Glories of Gold -

Fame, fortune and mirth

These are the masks beneath which lies

The value of gold, its true worth

The richness of symbol, the power of myth

The wealth of allegory

These are the secrets of wisdom and life

And gold is the mystical key"

"Seeker, behold, we Makers of Gold

From metals crude and base

Though chemistry would seem our trade

In fact, this is not the case

For as we toil with flask and wick

Powder, flame and grime

We change what is base within ourselves

Into qualities divine."

"Seeker, behold, the Lesson of Gold

In work and labour and trade

Judge your success by the growth of the spirit

Not by the things you have made

Let your motto be 'caring', your reason be 'love'

And 'service' your ultimate goal

For your purpose, choose 'wholeness' - the joining together

Of body, mind and soul"

"Seeker, behold, to be a Master of Gold

These teachings you must heed

The secret to wealth in your Earthly domain

Is service of those who are in need

To be a master, become a servant

And you shall surely find

The alchemical secret of transformation

Is love of humankind."

The Waking

The glint of gold within his dream

Merged to shining ray

As the worldly leader woke to face

The dawn of a strange new day

Rising up, he felt the weight

Of future years and past

He knew his time of reckoning

Had come to him at last

The dream still lingered, real as life

Etched upon his soul

Pointing toward divergent paths -

Each portrayed a different goal

The choice could not be made with ease

With everything to lose

To win the game or change the rules?

Which option should he choose?

A flood of childhood memories

Helped him to decide

The plastic world of skyscrapers

Became his village tribe

Clean air filled his thirsty lungs

Green hills melt' his eyes

The legends of his ancestors

Echoed 'round the fireside

He remembered sacred stories …

Of Mother Goddess Earth

Who, courted by the Tree of Life

Unleashed creation's birth

Others told of man and beast

Joined by silver thread

Partners in a tight-rope dance

Upon the spider's web

Still other tales were warning words

Of worlds falling apart

From war and strife, hate and greed

The failures of the heart

But coming back to haunt him now

Were yarns of slaves and gold

And he realised the time had come

For a new myth to unfold

The Changes

The instant that his mind was made

A shadow disappeared

Before a blaze of consciousness

Were all the things he feared

He realised he'd built his life

On shifting, shallow shores

Of buried insecurities

And not some noble cause

Now he had to re-conceive

A motive to inspire

Profit lost its lusty lure

He found a new desire:

To serve the planet and its kin

To blur what's yours and mine

To create value in our lives

A love-led bottom line

Next his notion had to change

Of needing to compete

He saw the inefficiencies

Of victory and defeat

Much more progress could be had

If partnerships were found

The win-win world of synergy

Saw creativity abound

Money's meaning transmuted too

No longer stockpiled worth

But rather energy in flow

Used to heal or hurt

In giving he could multiply

The blessings he'd been fed

Not charity but seeds to grow

And so the abundance spread

The changes reaped a just reward

With bountiful returns

But now he measures his success

By what he loves and learns

The business elder turns and winks

His story has been told

An alchemy of rags to riches

Take heed - the Way of Gold

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