- Melody Hughes, Grade10

surrounded by a dense

wall of menacing trees,

air filled with       black raven's

               eerie cry,

the dreary chill of the desolate island

is enough to make

executioners shudder

yet the dwellers of Auromorphis

are completely unaffected by its

disquieting gloom.

all that they perceive is gold,

for they are great masters of

Alchemy;

desiring to discover means to transform

anything at all into

G o l d.

their minds are ceaselessly occupied,

generating new schemes and

experiments;

they are the only men on earth

who could dwell in such a place.

the wind, rain, and snow

beat so relentlessly

that one forgets

the sun exists.

the craggy, twisting

mountain slopes are

unpleasant and quite perilous.

stark gaping caves

give the landscape

the aesthetic appeal

of a decrepit cemetery

even so, the great alchemist

would not trade their island

for gold

it keeps prying eyes out,

it keeps

secrets

in.