The Alchemist

Down the winding stairs
A shadow in the night
Deep below the ground
Smoke and hazy light

Mercury and bronze
A crucible of clay
Whirls of ores abound
In the disarray

The frenzied alchemist
His hands still wet with dye
The genius alchemist's
City in the sky

Dripping with pure gold
Lit by the saturn Moon
A kind of strange glow effervescent
A kingdom of peace
Is what he deemed it be
His masterpiece, his final apogee

Metallic finesse
Mapped from an ancient scroll
The parts coalesce slowly surely
Every element
Careful and so precise
So elegant, a gilded paradise

Puffs of steam and smoke
Drift out of his work room
Chimes of hanging glass
Swinging in the dark

Muttering and hums
Explosions out of sight
Mists of minerals burned
In the candlelight

Gold, the Sun solidified
Shines like angels from above
Once my work's complete
The world will finally see
What I've always been sure of

Dripping with pure gold
Lit by the saturn Moon
A kind of strange glow effervescent
A kingdom of peace
Is what he deemed it be
His masterpiece, his final apogee

I'll wait till all the stars align
Collision of the times
A ritual of sound and energy
My cauldron boiling on the forge
Its purpose clear
The transmutation has begun
The moment's near

And now I wait for the alchemy
My wildest dreams to be realized for me

My spirit thrives
Reputation revived
Once my metropolis comes alive

How strange
The vapor's color changed
During the distillation
It rearranged

Dark red, the bubbles turn to black
All my efforts now in vain
My quest for better worlds
Just a foolish scheme
Such delusion fills up my brain

I take my leave
My shame devours me
How mindless to misconceive

All my life oblivious
To be so bold
As to see in myself
A hero who turns lead to gold

So my plans for utopia
My heaven above
With streets paved with aureate
Futures of peace
And love has slipped away from me

I am just a man
I am just a man
Only just a man