The Siren’s Coin
By Jedd, Year 12
It builds our dreams, it breaks them too,
A transient friend, forever new,
It fills the hand, then slips away,
A tool we use, but must obey,
It’s glitter bright, a siren’s call,
A promise made to both rise and fall,
A weightless thing with a heavy cost,
What we gained, we often lost,
In every coin, a tale is spun
Of battles lost and victories won
A paradox of both rich and poor,
A craving fed but left wanting more,
It paves the way, it blocks the path,
A source of joy, a source of wrath,
In deep pockets or a shallow purse,
It only heals or turns the world to worse,
It feeds the soul, it drains the mind,
A phantom we’re all cursed to find,
It buys us time, it wastes it too,
A power strong, but passing through.
This poem, The Siren’s Coin, is an excerpt from Experienced at 17, a poetry collection written by Jedd Bailey in Story Factory’s Year of Poetry program. In this program, young people commit to attending workshops for a year and write their very own poetry collection, which is professionally edited, published and launched into the Sydney literary landscape.