Epiphany

“I have it!” they scream,

Bursting from dark laboratories,

Clutching a sheaf of arcane scribbles

Or a half-exploded beaker,

Eyes alight with a fervid passion

That frankly makes me nervous,

And crowing that they’ve found the secret

To great sex, endless love,

Spiritual fulfillment, and retirement savings.

They look so proud of their hard-won discovery –

So eager to share it with an adoring world –

So self-impressed and fierce in their belief –

That I’m not certain I have the heart to tell them

How I was never looking for the formula.

I was never in the market for secondhand bliss.

I was only ever looking for something improbable –

So fortuitous, in fact, as to seem ridiculous –

And utterly unrepeatable –

And of course, like everything we know of,

Working hard at vanishing.