Fool's Gold (Ode to Pyrite)

Lyrics

[Intro]
Little cube of sunlight.
Little lie in the riverbed.
Iron Sulfide.
I hold you in my hand.

[Verse 1]
You grow in perfect angles,
a geometry of deceit.
FeS₂, a name like a secret.
Brassy, sharp-edged, complete.
You didn't ask for our greed,
for the fever in the eye that sees you
and calls you by another's name.

[Verse 2]
Sutter's Mill, January '48.
The water is cold on the knuckles.
A man's whole future is in that pan.
He lifts you to the sky,
a prayer caught in his throat.
But you're too light.
You are the wrong kind of bright.
You are the lesson that breaks the heart.

[Chorus]
Oh, fool's gold, you great teacher.
You taught us about weight.
You taught us the ache of the almost-real.
The difference between the glitter
and the thing that settles deep.
You are the cold truth at the bottom of the pan.

[Verse 3]
The Klondike, a different kind of cold.
The pickaxe rings on frozen ground.
They called you Pyrite, from the Greek for 'fire'.
Because you give a spark on steel.
A flash of momentary warmth.
A promise you were never meant to keep.
Just a beautiful, useless fire.

[Bridge]
But you were born in darkness,
by the black smokers, deep in the sea.
You never knew the sun.
You never asked to be a symbol for a lie.
You just are.
A perfect, heavy, brass-colored truth
that we misunderstood.

[Chorus]
Oh, fool's gold, you strange teacher.
You taught us about weight.
You taught us the ache of the almost-real.
The difference between the glitter
and the thing that settles deep.
You are the cold truth at the bottom of the pan.

[Outro]
So thank you for the lesson.
For the sharp edge of what is.
I leave you on the windowsill.
Not for your promise.
But for your shine.
Just for your shine.