Copper Pennies
Copper Pennies
Do you recall searching for
a penny – heads up?
As children, we knew
a penny staring at us
would bring us luck.
I wanted to share all
my pennies – spread
some luck – around
baron ground.
So – one Sunday
morning I stopped
by an empty field,
Inside one of my pockets I
shoved a handful
of pennies.
I opened the window
of my car and I
tossed copper pennies
into the air – I
watched as they
flipped and flopped then landed
on vacant land near a
few tiger lilies – brightly
colored orange near dried up
brown earth and scattered
rocks.
I said to myself as if someone heard,
“Come, find a
penny, it may be
heads up – and
bring your sadness
a little bit of luck.”
I returned to the
spot and stopped my car. Pressed a
button – my car door
unlocked, and I
stood by the side
of the road where I
once tossed pennies – now I
began to toss seeds of
wildflowers – knowing
beneath the earth those
pennies remained from
long ago.
Wildflowers
multiplied – took
over the wide-open field,
and I noticed a homeless man, he
kept bending over, brought a bit of luck
to him walking near the railroad tracks
where copper pennies flew.
Every now and then I pass this plot now filled
with wildflowers of
every color, and I
wonder – how many
copper pennies still
rest among the
flowers? How many
homeless who walk near
those tracks have found a penny,
heads up? I can still see
those copper pennies
flying from my car window,
now covered with natures
own beauty.
In my mind, I left a mark
where nature forgot to
plant its’ own seeds.
And I was told how silly it
had been for me to toss copper
pennies onto baron land – today when
I see a homeless man near the railroad
track – I manage to say hello, it’s not a
copper penny that I share but a warm coat –
he may sleep among the flowers…