Alchemist’s Eternity

I’ve spent six lifetimes in my chase of eternity,
And all I’ve won are obstructive absurdities.
Call me a fool, though I am clever,
Because I have found my fleeting forever.

I’ve spent four decades in the lab, reversed my life, escaped bloodshed.
Yet an hourglass will no doubt crack, and we would still be doomed to death.
Boundless is the bitter bite of the brittle Brussels sprout,
Or aromas of the amaranth, as rank as those of trout.

I’ve spent twenty-two millennia to tack the minutes down,
Yet time will still dance in my stead and spin the seconds ‘round.
But endless are the somber spaces underneath the vines,
Or whispers of a kind-eyed friend left all too far behind.

I’ve spent six hundred eons to wipe the clock face clean.
Yet digits still stand stout; the day won’t bow to alchemy.
But everlasting arias are in the agile air,
And the withered wind might wish you well in your affairs.

The happiest ones alive today live on a scale of seconds.
So don’t be smart; wake yourself and answer all my beckons.
Brand me a fool, the lot of you, though I am all too clever,
Because I have found, to their chagrin, my own fleeting forever.