Prestidigitation

I met a young man sitting between the trees

Juggling percents and trilion-threes,

Buzzing like a swarm of bees,

I asked of his anxieties.

"Exports have fallen four percent,

Unemployment's higher than the rent,

Immigrations up and still they're sent

And bankers borrow what they haven't lent.

"The reminbi," he said to me,

"Is lower than it ought to be

Gas is high and, can't you see?

Freedom's never bought for free!"

His worries seemed to be amounting

To hysteria in his accounting.

I asked, "Why sit with crises mounting?"

He said, "I'm not idle, man- I'm counting!"

Lazarus and Dives, before they went mainstream

Lazarus and Dives
Met in the road one day
Lazarus, he bowed low,
And heard the rich man say:

“Judea loves me most of all
Though you and I are strangers still
I’m the toast of Rome and Susa
While Hebrews do my will.

But still I live a righteous life
And all my tithes are paid
My children worship Adonai
In every place we’ve stayed.”

Lazarus answered soft and humbly,
“My cow is dry and my land unarable

My money's soft, my grain is crumbly
My donkey’s back has grown unbearable
But a gloried life awaits me numbly
If I can get into a parable.”

To 2011

2011 has at last appeared,
Reconciled, wished on, prayed for and feared
And shall we predict what this near year will hold?
Only if we’re foolish, shameless and bold-
I propose that the pessimists will again be proved wrong
Yet remain unpersuaded by reason or song
While the optimists see that the future is bright
‘Til we need them for food by New Year’s Eve night.

Note to readers: Right now, I'm thinking the title of this blog gets a new meaning and will contain intermittent posts like the Wednesdays and Saturdays from Waking Ambrose, though not necessarily on Wednesday, Saturday or any other regular schedule. To keep up, you may want to use Google Reader or with the RSS feed. I think there is one.