Sunday, January 31, 2021

DIME ON THE SIDEWALK

by William Aarnes




Paying with cards 
            or phones, people  
now carry fewer  
 
and fewer coins  
yet here someone’s  
dropped a dime 
 
on the sidewalk. 
FDR’s profile  
recalls the time 
 
“THE UNITED STATES 
OF AMERICA” 
had dime stores 
 
(not dollar stores),              [ 
            a time when one 
of the luckless 
 
might beg, “Buddy,      
can you spare 
                        a dime.”            
 
Though the coin 
            contains no silver, 
                        it’s shiny enough 
 
to catch the eye 
            and still worth 
“One Dime.”  
 
And it’s embossed 
with the mottos 
“LIBERTY,”  
 
“IN GOD WE TRUST,”  
“E PLURIBUS  
             
UNUM.”          
 
Your choice: 
pick the dime up 
            or just let it lie. 


William Aarnes lives in South Carolina.