for DF & ADF
Some people know how to be rich, others
Don’t. I know a couple who’ve overcome
Poverty’s reticence, who can cozen
Fate, preside over wealth with such aplomb
The mind boggles. Often they enliven
Torpid hours by spiriting friends to spend
Some time away. To Alaska, say; dives
In warm Fijian seas at two thousand
Bucks a day! “Hey, we’ll take the Gulfstream Four”
(Larger of the two jets they own). It’s not
That we are poor. It’s just that at our core
We haven’t learned to cut the Gordian knot
Of our frugality. I stand, entranced,
Comparing cost per ounce of rival brands.
(4/16/07)