Lucky Penny

Wish on a star for you might fall in love,
Toss a coin, pick up a lucky penny,
Don’t step on a crack, you might break your mother’s
Back, and we wouldn’t dare risk that, now would we?

Don’t break mirrors, don’t tell a dancer good luck.
Make a wish as you drive through a tunnel and hold
Your breath or when the clock strikes 3:33 or 11:11.
Get kissed in the rain for luck and don’t walk along
The railroad tracks.

I’d do anything for luck for in the simple ways of life,
We become dependent on these simple tricks.
Yet believe in them, some believing in these more
Than faith in something spiritual.
So how does that define us saying we’ll wish upon stars
And hold our breath as the tunnel passes,
But we cannot pray?

Perhaps wishing seems more real in
A concrete world. Perhaps dreams live in wishes
And good luck: for we are all dreamers.
Perhaps it is because a lucky penny is real.
Perhaps because myths passed down through the ages,
About not stepping on cracks,
About breaking mirrors or kissing in the rain
Are old, real, dreams of ancient people just like us.

It’s all about dreams, dreams that defined them then.
And dreams that we want to define us now.

Wish upon a star and you might fall in love.
Isn’t that a dream worth dreaming for?