The Price of Curiosity

World of wonder, world of magic

World that beckons us to seek

The never experimented before

First we fail, then we are "rewarded"

By the "lovely light," and "enchanted elfin sprite"

Problems solved, by miracles found

Preceded by some "mysterious emanations"

It's the cure, 

For anything and everything

It puts the world to sleep,

It stills everything, 

Its "luminous glow" becomes eternal

It freezes time, controls it

Spins it, and slows it

Till we no longer know, 

Whether we sleep in eternal peace or in agony

Stories to be told,

Of times lost long ago

Stories of glowing vials, of "liquid sunshine"

Stories of hope, littered with desperation

Stories that warn, stories that ward

Stories seen as fiction, and as myth

Stories not heeded, caveats ignored

Fascination floods, and blinds us all

All that the glow stilled

Awaits its turn,

Death is to come, 

Death is to steal,

The glow still rests 

On the faces and arms of six year-olds,

On the lips of women, caught with unfortunate jobs,

On Marie Curie's finger tips, no longer twitching with the anticipation of her discovery

Its "dreamlike beauty" is eternally frozen

Yet alive, waiting for its next host

Death waits at the door, 

With the glow by its side

Waiting for our next flounder,

Waiting for our new desperation,

For our new false hope,

And inevitable ruin

World of plunder, world of tragic

World that renders us weak, 

Profiting from our frailty

First we fail, then we are "rewarded"

By the "lovely light," and "enchanted elfin sprite"

Problems unsolved, by miracles underground

Preceded by some "mysterious emanations"

It's the lure, 

For anything and everything

Stories of glow,

Of times lost long ago

Stories of glowing vials, of "liquid sunshine"

Stories of desperation, littered with false hope

Stories that warn, stories that ward

Stories not heeded, caveats ignored

Fascination floods, and blinds us all

Fascination that we trust, 

More than the fables of the true

Fascination that we follow 

Simply for its hue

Beware of the glow, of the "lovely light" that beckons

Beware of our silent comrades, 

Silenced by their fascination

Beware in your travels to this world anew

Beware, and remember the things to heed