A/N: Written for the Call it Heads or Tails Challenge, 1.2 (heads) – write a poem, and for the Another Mega Prompts Challenge, writing prompts #5 – poem exactly 110 words.
The Meaning of Wealth
Wealth wasn't in the gold they let slip away.
Wealth wasn't in the trophies that shone under muck
only because they polished them, kept them bright
as though they wouldn't fade into the blank canvas behind.
Wealth wasn't half-starving the guests that brought no
wealth of their own. Wealth wasn't the ragged moth-bitten sheets
they slept in, while their jewels lay untouched.
Wealth wasn't their too far-seeing, near-blind eyes
stretching for spoils, ignoring the far closer metal decaying into rust…
Wealth wasn't the material things they hoarded
or the skeletons that pile up in their treasure rooms
pining for something more: true wealth
they're too old and wasted to grasp.