Unto Those Who Have Shall be Given
Is Mammon then the new religion ?
Well, the wealthy always love a feast –
And even bankers care a smidgen,
Looking to the rising of the East.
Oxonites and Grantabridgians
Hail economists as modern priests.
But who will feed the hungry pigeons
When the gurus prowl with bigger beasts ?
They cast the runes and read the guts,
They tighten belts and order cuts,
They short on ifs and hedge on buts,
And half the time they’re nearly right, at least.
So is the market of the bull
The gilded temple of the Golden Calf ?
The debtors push, the futures pull,
And prophets lease the rod to pay the staff.
The brokers of the stock are full
Of warnings and of lunches and of graphs,
While sheep are fleeced of all their wool,
And dealers trade in bitter tears for laughs.
They watch the clouds and read the leaves,
They loosen ties and roll their sleeves,
They sup with kings and drink with thieves,
And all our prayers are now worth only half.
Rhyming Couplets 