Juli Freda | + Follow Poet |
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Shiny Dime

I came upon an old man once
Who told me to be wise.
To care for those I really like
Look deep into their eyes.

Because eyes tell all I need to know
To find out what is wrong,
To hear what they are hearing,
To know their favorite song.

“I’ll try it out” I said to him
That’s all he wanted from me.
And then we went our separate way
The next year I was three.

In all those years that’ve come and gone
I’ve known a lot of faces
But those that I’ve remembered most
Were in very special places.

Like on the head of good-old-dad
And mom she has one too,
And all the people I work with
(All but just a few)

I try this out on everyone
And it works quite well.
Too well sometimes, I’ve been told,
My head began to swell.

My ego had taken over
I had no control of my brain
And then that same old man showed up
And it began to rain.

He told me I had made him sad
Not used my power as I should.
He said he’d take way my fun,
And I knew that he could.

I told him I didn’t mean to abuse it
Put other people down
Because they weren’t as good as me
But the rain kept pouring down.


I squealed and squirmed and apologized
Until my face was blue
Then the sun came shining up
To give me try number two.

I couldn’t get over the guilt I felt
With my hero staring at me.
He stared and stared and made me squirm
Until I got down on one knee.

I apologized to the mighty man
He put me in my place
He told me I got one more chance
And a smile came across his face.

I could have sworn it was an hour
But only five minutes went by
He yelled, he screamed, and blew his top
So I began to cry.

He stopped his yelling, gave me a hug
Which I needed at that time.
He told me I could be the best
Then gave me a shiny new dime.

I thanked him for the money
And politely asked him why,
He told me one I learned to care
He’d come back and tell me why.

I haven’t seen him since, mind you
He’s neither here nor there.
I try to be the best I can
But not too good to care.

That shiny dime is in my room
The one on which I’d sworn.
It sits upon my bedroom wall
And I see it every morn.

It reminds me of the old man I knew
Before he went away
To teach others how to care and love
But he’ll be back one day.

To tell me that I’ve passed with grace
And do I have my dime?
Because that little piece of silver
Gets me into Heaven when it’s time.



Thanks to Grandma Schmidt encouraging me to keep them, this is the first poem written down that I kept from grade school, written 1980.

Copyright © Juli Freda | Year Posted 2020

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