OLD COINS I HAVE FOUND BENEATH THE RUINS

 

old coins I have found beneath the ruins

old coins not to save perhaps to spend

on finding the memory of God again

old coins like tears I could not shed

for the living or the dead

though each one shines a sunset tear

a single century or a year

near the aqueduct half washed in the seas

the sea of Time that's ebbing from me.

they shine with a familiar shine

they bear an inscription half Divine

oh where will I spend them

what will they buy

now that the night is drawing nigh

old coins I have found and wept to see

an odd inscription of love for me

a song half flung from Calvary

a patina formed by the years from home

a rose gold sigh on a foreign wind.

mary angela douglas 30 august 2022