The Tinsel Show

From the false jewels

piled in their heaps

the sparkling facets 

of the leaded glass 

and the deceiving richness 

of the plated gold 

we have built our tower.

We have gone all in 

playing this hand of the game

wagering that we can 

continue to transform 

our tinsel show

into real wealth 

only two thousand more

laborious days 

until we can take the measure

of our fortune.

I’d like to live

long enough to see it

I’d like to build a second tower

for art to flourish in

to pay back the many gifts

that you have poured 

over me in the baptism 

afforded by the burgeoning life 

in the garden of learning.

That’s where the true wealth

lies between the covers

piled in abandon 

on the cherished shelves 

the tomes of knowledge 

tumbled together in love

their different truths 

all woven together

a richness that cannot 

be spent, or squandered 

but is the real inheritance 

that we pass on 

to one another.