Pick this coin of copper, not silver or gold, <br />To reflect on times remote and things old. <br />Sweat and grime stained its faded face, <br />Touched by trouble, toil and tedium that time won’t erase. <br /> <br />Heads it is - and look, the head of a Sovereign before. <br />Flip it over - it’s a cent - just a cent and nothing more. <br />But rickshaw pullers earned it running here and there, <br />Like beasts of burden - yet, little to eat or wear. <br /> <br />Into the safe of our hearts we slip this copper coin <br />That the fading fleeting years don’t take, nor thief purloin. <br />This vintage coin, a witness of time, is surely a special thing, <br />A better treasure than a minted gold-crowned king<br /><br />Andrew Yip<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-copper-coin/
