Money With Heads Of People On It Poem by Sarah Mkhonza

When Caesar put his head on a coin
He made silver a tablet rare for
On it he wanted to see his image
Rare. He would look at it and know
When it faced the sun people saw
His smile for so vast was his empire.

Today we are stuck with the heads of
Pundits rare who stare at us in states
Of desperation galore for such is the
Minting of life. It minces us into a pulp
And pours is down the mould of countries
Poor that spend all trying to put one
Whose head is chosen to impoverish the
Many who scramble for the coin with
His head on it.

These pieces of silverware rare send us
Out of our houses each morning to go and
Collect our dignity for not doing so leaves
Our labor unsold to get the coin that makes
Us see our selves like the face of the one
On it.

To choose so humble a position and be followers
Of money is wisdom of the near want wits we became
The day we sang the national anthem instead of
A worldwide anthem.

For now in unison we rise to a note at the
Command of ones who died and left us chasing
Coins with their images which write a history
Of a people hungry.

Once we believed the coins with people's heads
On them would send us to tables on which lay a feast of
The gods like theirs. Now we learn it is about
Power and not about empty stomachs.

They say angels sing about a moneyless and papersless
World but never a silverless world where work
Will not be known but only plenty rolling itself
From table to table. Such a land I still have to
See for they say it exists in Lietchenstein.