Friday's Whims of the Time Traveler 36.0: September 28th, 2007

There once was a boy
by Belinda Roddie

There once was a boy who was made of gold.

His father was a goldsmith, and he took great delight

in fashioning such a wonder under the cover of night.

And lo, the boy was a sight to behold,

for every part of him, his eyes, his nose, his cheeks,

even down to his toes and fingernails,

was carved entirely from solid gold.

And when he smiled, he had flaxen teeth,

and when he frowned, his eyebrows would crease and fold

The metal in his forehead, but gold was gold

And malleable enough to keep him lively.

When he walked, he left footprints of golden residue.

When he sneezed, out came a fine, golden dust.

He even would bleed, and when he bled,

he bled gold, and that was that.

And when he stood in the sun, he shone

like a brilliant light across the land.

But for fear that he would be taken away

and pounded by hammers into a golden clay

to be refashioned into whatever men desired,

he was locked away in a small, dim room

with a silver key, and there he’d stay

from the rest of the world.

And the boy would watch the other children play,

wishing he could be one of them,

and he would cry.

And when he cried,

he’d cry gold tears.

The work you see here has not been edited nor altered since September 28th, 2007.