Loose change

Loose change                                                                                    

The taste of love is bitter in my mouth.

I can’t swallow it; I can’t spit it out.

Give me the definition of love -- 

          but don’t use any words.

I’ve been given enough words.  

All day long I beg for it

but, at night, when I empty my pouch –

there’s nothing but loose change.

How will this beggarly life ever make me rich?

Show me where to dig to strike the secret vein.

How do I split myself open just right

so that key of Yours might be

inserted into the padlock?

O child of God, in your quest for wealth, ask yourself,

‘Who is the one so impatient and dissatisfied?’

                        (from A Jewel in the Dust)