All That Glitters

The irony of June—the way it ushers in summer under gray skies and through streets slick with rain, the way it represents vacations and fun and swimming pools, and heatwaves that threaten violence and destruction, giving way to new beginnings—intrigues me.  

Surrounding the gloomy skies and unrelenting heat is a delicate eggshell of gold to which spring gives birth as snow melts and soil softens. But as temperatures rise, that shell melts into liquid and hardens into a clunky metal, its sleek contours a memory until the following spring. 

The temporal and alluring nature of gold in all of its iterations undergirds the wisdom of sages past and present. In the Bible, in the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah bemoans the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, likening the Israelites’ unfortunate fall from favor to gold that has “grown dim” and pure gold that “is changed.” 

Shakespeare uses the line “All that glistens is not gold” to school a superficial suitor in The Merchant of Venice. Even Stevie Wonder, in his song “Stay Gold,” celebrates the metal’s dazzling elements while acknowledging its transitory nature. 

Although the charm of gold may lose its luster, it reemerges—sometimes as gorgeous or garish, but always spellbinding.