EVENING

The alchemists missed the secret
of transmutation that was hidden in plain sight: 
when golden hour comes, 
the river turns to perfect glass,
the concrete to marble, and the blood 
on the rusted train tracks becomes 
glowing, liquid copper,
and if one tries to argue that the hour fades
to silver twilight and finally to leaden darkness,
they would be returning to the proverbial cave, 
having just missed the secret of impermanence. 

By Heidi Turner