A Poem About Money
I’m looking at a penny sitting lonesome on the street
And I can’t help but think of how it reminds me
That if I were to pick it up and receive it as my own
No one would care
They may wonder why…
So I’d tell them a story of when I was a kid
How I lived on the street and my home had a lid
Where the sound of a car horn was my ambient noise
And I had hypodermic needles to play with for toys
When it rained I’d get wet, when it snowed I’d be cold
And the corner of Concord and 1st is where I thought I’d grow old
People ignored me and counted my worth
Just like the pennies which had fallen to earth
So I collected each one to make as a friend
And before I knew it, one became ten
As I saved that small ten, I still found more
And in just a few short years, I had ten thousand in store
I became quite well known to entertain a laugh or two if you threw me some change
In their arrogance they chuckled that I would scurry to obtain
Money so worthless they were glad to throw away
And just as my pennies grew in numbers so fast
So did the people who would throw change for a laugh
When I was a few years older, I had saved quite a bit
So I bought the small store on the corner where I would sit
I really only bought it cause I knew it so well
I didn’t have much of anything that I could sell
Well I rented it out for the right market cost
And I changed just like that from servant to boss
Then I learned from a paper that I found on the road
That a bank would lend me money, in lieu of the store that I owned
Then a man that I knew cause I saw him every day
Who owned the building that was down the street a little way
He told me of how he wanted to sell
So I said, “Sure! I’ll buy your hotel!”
The street that I grew up on, I now own every store
And my purse at the bank just grows more and more
Now the very same people who found humor in my want
Now pay me rent on the first of every month
Although a penny by itself is rather worthless indeed
When put into a person’s hand, it’s potential is freed
Author: Jesse Lee
This poem very elegantly narrates the story of a women starting as a child living on the street who collected every penny that people dropped in front of her and as those added up, and up, and up, she found herself able to buy a small store, which led to investing in bigger and better things. I think this poem does a great job of almost metaphorically saying, even if it was based on a true story, that by saving and working for years even if it takes 10, 20, it will pay of in one way or another. In the poem people carelessly through away their change almost as a joke to see the poor girl scramble after it, people take their money for granted while people have to scramble after whatever money and opportunities they can get, even if it's a penny. The last line of the poem is
"Although a penny by itself is rather worthless indeed
When put into a person’s hand, it’s potential is freed"
Which in my mind is saying that a single penny is pretty much worthless, but when put in the hand of someone who needs it and appreciates its value, its potential and value is priceless.
"Although a penny by itself is rather worthless indeed
When put into a person’s hand, it’s potential is freed"
Which in my mind is saying that a single penny is pretty much worthless, but when put in the hand of someone who needs it and appreciates its value, its potential and value is priceless.