I Count Pennies

I sit counting pennies in the room

where just a day ago I counted

the hours

the minutes

til I heard my lover's voice.

I push the copper coins into heaps

of fifty, then one hundred

while the tears

roll down my nose

and follow my fingertips to my knuckles.

The silence of the evening is upon me--

a stillness once ripe with the promise

of a sigh

an embrace

and the taste of my lover's kiss.

I stare blankly at the wall before me

tracing cracks in the bricks instead

of lips

and lashes

and the outline of my lover's face.

I sit counting pennies in the room

where I once counted myself

so lucky

and so loved

now no more to feel my lover's touch.

Pennies for my thoughts...

Pennies for my dreams...

Pennies for my hurts...

Pennies for my pain.

Today I am wealthy.

©LJGrandstaff 11/99

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