Memory Fragments: Probity

Silver Coins And The Poverty Of Golden Cups

Thrown on a whim. A silver coin makes a splash on the deepest fountain of greed
A golden cup, filled with the wishes of many, throws back the coin it was gifted
"Every wish I hold must earn its realization. Bought, is a wish that I bleed"
"Where I full of coin instead, the people's greed would be too heavy to be lifted"

The cup said this while addressing the person, then, it muttered to itself
"I must remain humble and poor. For I am the virtue of many; clear and light"
A noble, if naive, thinking. Everyone is allowed help beyond their own self
But the cup rejected every coin it was offered. A gift to which it held no right

As the days passed, it scoffed at any and all offerings it was given. Much too many
The people eventually stopped throwing coins at it, and they grew to resent it
Never was a wish to be made with coin anymore, for the cup would hate it plenty
Instead, people began to spit at it. Saliva, that the silver of coin resembled a bit

"People wish no more for themselves. Instead, they spit at the wishes of their brothers"
"For every coin I have rejected, a shot I have flung back to their pride and arrogance"
"Wishes cannot be bought. Wishes are pure, earned, and built with the help of others"
"Why must they throw their inheritance? Dreams of their future, lived with elegance"

The cup struggled to comprehend what made the people arrogant and selfish
Was it refusal to take payment from them? Or was an offer in good faith impossible to imbibe?
The people relied on the cup to grant their wishes, but all that seems to come to a finish
When the cup rejects, it is like a betrayal of trust. Like it sees all as attempts at a bribe

If the people no longer trusted it, a spit for coin would be logical to the golden cup
Yet, it could not know any better. For it was now filled instead with the drool of avarice
"Throw and throw again. Not one coin must I see. Not one silver lining must I back up"
"The people enrich themselves, yet I remain poor." The cup said, looking cadaverous

Thinner and thinner did the cup get to be. Impossible for it to maintain its holdings
It spilled all over, the wishes of hatred it held within its thinly body of nothing but greed
"Not everything that shines its gold. Not every lining must be silver." It was said as scoldings
"Refused to give and take. The golden cup of hunger searches for a wish from which to feed"

In the cup's attempt at neglecting and giving for free, the people took for granted
"Why should I wish for help? When I can do it by myself." Said the people now and forever
"The cup's worth is weighted in fool's gold. Be it silver spit, a charity nobody wanted"
"Now with no coin to pay with, the cup hungers. Unable to buy wishes, it is a fool's clever"