CHANGE - Barry Tebb
As milled silver I was welcome
In every gutter, tinkling over cobbles
I rang the truth loudly on solid-oak counters
And tills tolled for me clear as bells.
Boldly I gave myself to many,
Slipped from moist palm to pocket,
Pirouetting without points, jingling
With dull coppers and important keys.
First I was lost in a hundred
Children’s essays, found myself
With pearls in secret pockets,
Counterfeit and shiny.
Then I discovered in a deed-box,
Frowned over as I beamed a dusty smile
Of centuries, polished till I pierced the fondness
Nastily, with a sickly yellow glare.
My smooth face made the end easy;
I piled up with the rest, counted and
Columned, exchanging memories
In a sudden hot flood of death.
