Two Sides of a Coin

Two sides of a coin,
only one revealed.
Will the earth preserve compassion
while courage is born.
A broken tape of the past
of a life forsaken.
No time to clear the way
for a smoother passage.

The mother pulls the boy along:
"Don't stop. Hurry on.
Leave that coin in the mud.
My dress won't come clean
from your dirty hands."
Leave courage mired in fear,
your throat full of lumps.
There's no time to reveal
the other side of the coin...
There's no time to reveal
the other side of the coin...

The dirt under your soft
fingernails was proof
of life's preserves
long ago scrubbed away
to go off to school,
to sit in the pews,
to fit in the lines
of a world hiding the undersides of coins.

The mother pulls the boy along:
"Don't stop. Hurry on.
Leave that coin in the mud.
My dress won't come clean
from your dirty hands."
Leave courage mired in fear,
your throat full of lumps.
There's no time to reveal
the other side of the coin...
There's no time to reveal
the other side of the coin...

The child sits alone-
The light shining through
a small pane of glass
far out of reach.
She recalls what it means
to penetrate a crack-
a sliver of hope-
to reveal a crevice of despair.
If she squints from far below
into the light,
her tears create the illusion
of meaning
beyond her pristine hands.