The Coin

Sara Teasdale, 1920

 

Into my heart’s treasury

I slipped a coin

That time cannot take

Nor a thief purloin,—

Oh, better than the minting

Of a gold-crowned king

Is the safe-kept memory

Of a lovely thing.

 

What value can be placed on beauty? Teasdale suggests that the memory of lovely things is more precious than material wealth.