Buffalo Nickel

[couchgrouch]

Buffalo NickelI stopped by to see Granpa as a boyand he showed me his collection of coinshe'd come home early from work that daytook out a polished mahogany caseand opened it like those coins were his toyshe smiled and said his fav'rite onewas old and scuffed a littlebut I thought I saw a bashful tearwhen he showed me that Buffalo Nickelhe said, "buffaloes once ruled the plainstheir hooves hammered thunder on the rangebut the boots of hist'ry marched onnow their majesty is mostly goneonly a shadow of their kingdom remains"he said, "remember, sonthe smile of time is fickle"then he held it to the lightand showed me life in that Buffalo NickelGranpa got laid off before his pensionbeing broke at that age was hard to facehe had to pawn his coin collectionand that treasured mahogany casebut there was one he just couldn't sellhe kept it in an old jar on the shelfdeep inside he felt a voidand somehow that old coinreminded him of himselfand he must have recalledthat day when I was littlecos when Granpa passed awayhe left me that Buffalo Nickel(c)2005 Robert George