A few years ago,
When not very old,
I decided I would go
To prospect for gold.

I walked down the street,
And looked from left to right.
I even looked beneath my feet,
With no gold mine in sight.

I walked out to the highway,
And decided to search the world.
Nothing ever came my way,
As tragedies unfurled.

I looked for gold everywhere.
It seemed I would never succeed.
Just as I did come to despair,
Hope did come to impede.

I looked all around,
Through mountains and streams,
In sight and in sound
And at night in my dreams.

Then out in the country,
With the grass and the tree,
I found it in a valley,
Deep inside of me.

(Published by Lone Stars Poetry Magazine, March 2021)