The Penny

I gave a penny to a boy

Who spent it on a wooden toy.

The boy that he had bought it from

Had been saving for a plastic gun.

The toy seller kept a penny from this profit
Which rolled down a drain when I dropped it.

The penny was chipped but still intact

Until eaten by a hungry rat.

The rat it ran out onto the street

To be flattened by a passing jeep.

The rat rotted and was washed away

But the penny remained until one day

A passer by picked it up

Crying, "Ooh, now I have good luck!"

Forgetting he was in the street

And was flattened by another jeep.

The penny it rolled through the town

Into a river to drown.

Where it was eaten by a fish.

The fish was caught

And the fisherman thought

"What a lovely meal

This will be for us all."

His family of five

Ate the fish to find

The daughter with a sore tooth

And a penny in her mouth.

She said it was lucky

And put it on a shelf for all to see.

Years later she left

And her parents thought it best

To sell the house,

Move somewhere else

And sit out the rest.

Today I am excited

To move into the house I've always wanted.

As I peer round the door

There, on the floor,

A copper coin staring back at me,

A flash in my memory,

But oh no, I forgot it

And slip the penny into my pocket.

Fear, Love and Understanding

My life changed in an instant

One bleak winter’s morning

A man rose onto a wooden box

To tell his story.

Many just walked by him

And why should they care?

The old man smiled at me,

The only one to stop and stare

He spread his arms out,

To a world that wasn’t listening

Ready to embrace them,

Forgiven for all that they were missing.

He spoke of all the world’s problems

In one simple phrase:

“Fear, love and understanding,

Are the words that you should praise

For fear keeps us orderly

And understanding keeps us sane

Love drives us onward

To do the things we do

And a slight imbalance of the three

Could split the world in two.

Fear love and understanding.

Understand love and fear.

Love fear and understanding.

Hold these three words dear

For these are the workings of all life

Without them the world is unclear”

I just gaped in awe, dumbstruck

That this man knew so much.

I gawped and blinked,

He smiled and winked.

I began skipping down the street,

Crying to people I did meet,

“Love one another,

Understand your neighbour,

Don’t fear what you don’t understand

But try to understand it better”

Most people turned and walked away,

Others shrieked and ran,

Because did not know these three words

They didn’t understand.

I told everybody that I knew

Of the world’s simple rule,

Though they just laughed

And told me I was a fool.

I travelled all around the world

Searching for someone who understood.

Eventually I settled down

And wrote my tale into a book.

My book made a fortune

And finally the world knew:

Fear, love and understanding

Would help this world pull through.

Governments changed their policies

To love and understand,

People helped strangers in the street

And held out a welcoming hand.

Years later I went back to the street

Where I first heard the old man preach.

The street had not changed one bit,

Except it was empty and bleak.

The wooden box had not moved,

Yet bore no speaker,

Only a copy of my book,

“Love, understand and fear”

I looked straight up towards the heavens,

Thankful I’d just stopped

And

Listened

To discover something that the others had not.