Life's Coin

 Life is like a coin in an invisible Master hand.

Thrown up into the air and we see it land.

Like a sand dollar it lands in the sand.

With a star etched in it so they can clap their hands.

Some landing in the sun,

Some landing far from glistening beaches glare,

Dare yet to find a place of grace

In darker shadows to become a taste,

A glimpse of something more.

Proof to the masses

That behind dark shaded glasses

There is more light than what they may see.

“Take them off, take them off!”

The copper penny screams.

I am worth more than my worth,

I am made of metals tried and true,

Melted in fires hot

and purified flowing

Into a form,

I bear his face.

Up goes the coin,

Spinning through the air.

Call your place; heads or tails?

Chances are as chances will…

The coin drops,

The coin is still.

On it’s plate

A single date.

Minted in it is it’s fate.

To circle and trade hands,

To jingle and to dance,

Until it lands

In pants, forgotten.

And then it’s washed

At the bottom of the drum

Pinched between finger and thumb

It is pulled out clean.

And as it falls in the jar it seems

Useful again.

For Papa on Father’s Day

June 2017