Two Coins by Ruth Collie (1927)
"Two Coins" by Ruth Collie is a short allegorical poem about a speaker who receives two gleaming, gold-like coins and initially responds with possessive greed. The speaker hides the coins away, delighting in them purely as private treasure, hoarding them "most miserly" so that no one else may share in their beauty. The turning point comes when the speaker retrieves the coins from their secret hiding place and discovers, to dismay, that their once-brilliant shine has dulled. No amount of tender care, polishing, or wishful pleading ("shine again, be bright again!") can restore their former gleam — the speaker cannot understand why hoarding, which was meant to preserve their value, has instead caused them to fade. Faced with this loss, the speaker resolves to stop hoarding and instead gives the coins away — sharing them first with one friend, then two, then four, and eventually with all the friends encountered along the way. Paradoxically, this generosity does not deplete the speaker's wealth but multiplies it: the more the coins are spent and given away, the more abundant the speaker's fortune becomes. The poem closes with its central revelation: the two coins were never literal gold but symbolic representations of Love and Happiness — intangible goods that diminish when selfishly hoarded and increase when freely given. The work's brief narrative arc — acquisition, greedy concealment, disillusioning decay, and redemptive generosity — delivers a simple moral lesson in the tradition of didactic verse: that emotional and spiritual wealth, unlike material wealth, grows through circulation and sharing rather than through possessive accumulation. The rhyme and refrain-like repetition (echoing phrases such as "they shone like gold, they shone like gold" and "to them I sighed, to them I cried") give the poem a songlike, almost fable or parable quality suited to its instructive theme.
By Ruth Collie · First published 1927 · Genre: Poetry, Allegory, Fable · 238 words
First lines
I had two coins offered me, they shone like gold, they shone like / gold. I clutched at them so greedily, I clutched at them with / fevered hold. I hid them quickly out of sight. They were for me / alone to see. They gave delight, such keen delight; I hoarded them / most miserly. One day, alack! and oh! alas! I took them from their / secret place; a sorry thing had come to pass; my bright gold coins / were dull of face. I tended them with loving hand. Oh! shine again, / be bright again! This fact I could not understand: their gleam and / sheen were on the wane. "I will not hoard you any more," to them I / sighed, to them I cried. I shared with one, with two, with four; / with all the friends whom I espied. Now this is strange but this is / true. My wealth is more instead of less; I spent and spent -- and / still it grew. Those coins were Love and Happiness!
What this Textopian page supports
Two Coins is listed on Textopian as a poem by Ruth Collie, dated 1927 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Ruth Collie
- Date: 1927 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Allegory, Fable, Philosophical Fiction, Inspirational Literature
- Length: 238 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Two Coins by Ruth Collie
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Poetry — Written in structured verse with rhyming couplets and a regular meter, employing poetic devices such as repetition and parallelism throughout.
- Allegory — The two coins serve as extended metaphors representing abstract concepts (Love and Happiness), with their transformation driving the narrative meaning.
- Fable — Presents a moral lesson about the virtues of generosity and sharing over hoarding, culminating in a wisdom-based conclusion about human values.
- Philosophical Fiction — Explores fundamental philosophical questions about wealth, happiness, materialism, and the paradox that giving increases rather than diminishes well-being.
Tags
historical fiction · children's literature · adventure · mystery · friendship · family · courage · discovery · travel · ancient history · treasure · secrets