Once I believed in all I was told,
Magic was real, its truth so bold.
Then came a voice, cold and near—
Santa Claus? The Tooth Fairy?
"That stuff... no way," it sneered in my ear.

What? Not true?
My mind, a tempest, not knowing what to do.
So what else is false, what else must I doubt?
Tell me, tell me, what’s the truth, all laid out?

“Well, all that’s hollow, empty and gray,
The rest? It’s all just smoke and play.”
Years passed, and I walked this land,
Where magic lay buried beneath the sand.

But then, a moment—sharp and clear—
I saw the fool I had been, year after year.
It was time to shuffle the cards once more,
Yet still the fool, I remained at my core.

Chasing a butterfly, so swift, so bright,
But now I must grapple with a deeper fight—
The bitter truth, the lesson to grasp:
Vomiting out the apple, at last.