I found a coin lying on the pavement one day,
And picked it up as I was on my way.
The coin was round yet dull, it had lost its sparkle,
When it just spoke to me with a startle.
We started with the usual formalities, mind,
Such is a mark of a gentleman kind.
And I knew that this was unlike any other,
This coin that, by respect, I shall call Sir.
Battered though he was, sir made up for rich pasts,
Which easily my lifetime it outlasts.
He was older than I was; older than brother,
Older than father, still with grandfather.
With banters aside, our speech found frivolity,
The Sir told me of wisecracks so witty.
Of how a man sold all he had for a phoney,
And ended up losing all his money.
Sir told me of how men died by edge of the sword,
Fighting to be his guardian and his lord.
He told me of stories from his youth with women,
How he was courted and sought like a gem.
He traveled widely, unlike I who have not tread
The far shores of the East and West and fled,
From hand to endless hand, from master to master,
Such was then that I saw through his luster.
“I can make you powerful, my dear little child,
I can fulfill all the dreams you think wild!
Only let me be lord, nay, let me be your god,
And never ‘gain shall you chew the vile cud!”
What was I to do, for I was a boy, a man?
Before me was the answer to my plans.
Never again shall I hunger nor bleed nor weep,
If to a certain promise I shall keep.
Shaking, I threw upon the waters the hard stone
Seeing in my hand, ugly it had grown.
It was as heavy as lead, I broke in a run,
A voice, “No!”, was drowned by the setting sun.
Oliman 