Wednesday, August 10, 2005

i got two cents once.
i didn't even ask for them.
someone just put them in my hand
and said, "there you go, sonny boy".

i looked at the coins.
two shiny pieces of metal
reflecting the sun into my eyes,
blinding me at times, when i wasn't careful.

so i put them into my pocket.
there, i knew i wouldn't lose them.
even though i was one of the forgetful ones
i savoured the feeling of them jangling in my pocket.

knowing that in a few days,
i would forget all about them.
lost in the wash, left on the table,
out of sight, out of mind, out of luck.

one day, i met someone.
and i thought he might need
those two cents more than me.
so i searched for the shiny coins.

i couldn't find them at all.
i looked in my pocket, my wallet
until i found one, pitted and tarnished.
it didn't reflect the sun as well anymore.
so i fished out my own cent
added it to the old one
and gave him two cents.

3 comments:

a adhiyatma said...

what's it mean, man? Am confused. Again though, would be more effective if you just put it into prose. I don't think it functions as a poem, and maybe the meaning may come out better if you write it in lines.

Cheng said...

i like the mary poppins reference. tuppence! my favourite song in the musical.

Terence said...

I think it's a good poem. As far as things go.

It's got a message.

some of it, really doesn't have a point. like, if stanzas 2 and 3 and 4 went missing, the only loss would be that you 'd need a filler between 1 and 5 & 6.

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