Not as Completion, but as a Beginning

Polished to clarity,
gold gleaming in quiet brilliance.

Without a trace of cloudiness,
that figure is often called “complete”.

Whenever I hold something entirely new,
I fear its change
and feel tempted to keep it precious inside a box.

Yet once time begins to pass,
small scars appear,
the gilded gold slowly loses its brightness,
and at times, the lacquer beneath quietly reveals itself.

It comes to reflect
the time you have lived.

Scars are traces of daily life.
Gold that has deepened carries the length of days layered upon it.

No two will ever become the same.

Aging is beautiful.

Everything, in time, changes.
It may not be the change you hoped for.
It is not always gentle.

And yet, if you can accept that change,
and one day come to find it dear—

Where, and in what way, it will change.

May it become the beginning
of a beautiful time—
shared between the jewelry and you.