Dark alchemy

This world is full of hardship

We suffer and feel pain

I wish that these were truths

That did not have to cause us shame

For when we make it illness

For sensitive souls to feel

The slings and arrows of fortune

How can we ever find a way

To truly validate what is real 

How can it be a sin for us

To suffer illness, loss or pain

And why make legitimate responses to suffering

The object of fear, contempt and distain?

Surely there is a way to accept

That the soul’s deepest suffering is real

And we are not cursed to feel

The truth of it

Surely we must forget

When blinded by aversion or regret

The hidden gift

That would never be discovered

Without the courage

To fully enter into it

Engaging in the process of turning molten lead

To tempered gold

Finding sparks of sunshine and dreams of new life

Buried at the bottom of our dread

For is this not the hidden purpose

Of our soul’s dark alchemy?