Sweet Alchemy

March is maple syrup season in Maine

Late one night when I was three

I witnessed modern alchemy

At the end of a long lean room

The stove was wreathed in a steamy gloom

Drinking nymph’s blood from a saucer

By moonlight, my aunt read Chaucer.

A little bit scared, I slid from my bed

“What are you doing, Auntie?” I said.

She put out the fire; the room grew cold.

“I’m turning water into gold.”

Backstory: When my niece and nephew were little, they spent the night at our small apartment one March when I happened to be finishing maple syrup on the stove. They were sleeping on the couch, so I had turned off the lights and was reading Canterbury Tales by the window when my little nephew asked what I was doing. (In my mind, “Chaucer” would be a bit too contrived if it weren’t true! But it was true. And alchemy is mentioned in it, which makes it even nicer.) I was sipping the syrup (“nymph’s blood”) from a saucer from time to time to see if it was done (there are much more effective/consistent ways to do this, but at least it’s a tasty way…) Of course, I used a saucer so that the surface area allowed it to cool to drinkable temperature faster. The moonlight, the steam, the little voice speaking out of the dark silence...it was a poem already.

Now, those familiar with syrup-making might be saying, “But! But!” Boiling down sap in an apartment building is not recommended. I made about a pint of syrup, which means I boiled off almost 5 gallons of water. That’s a lot of water in my little apartment. The landlord didn’t think about this possibility when he wrote the lease, I’m guessing. There’s a bit more explanation, which I’ll go into in my next post about the syrup-making season, but basically…I was young and dumb and having fun.)

Between the work and the price and the deliciousness, real maple syrup is gold in more ways than one!

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