The Wheatie Penny

"Tucked into his hand
to help him find his way
a 1956 penny"

to you a penny, a coin
to me the year my other brother was born
- the one who died 2 years ago.

should I have kept it?

I felt him near me when I found it, come to comfort me during
the crushing, uncertain days before Scott died.

But, no...

I asked them to tuck it into his cold dead hands
so he would not feel alone
as he passed to the other side

Todd had told me in a letter
"You have the least but you give the most!"

It's true, isn't it.

All this giving
and
All this taking
and
All this shifting
where realms overlap

TRUTH!

little drops of it spill out for us to find
to gather up

into angry tight fists

into cold folded hands

into one hand open
        passing it on to another