Poor
Ian's Opinion
(on
Senate approval of bankruptcy legislation March 15, 2001)
They'd stiffed me out of severance pay
And landed me in debt
And so began four tortuous years
In anxious care to fret.
I pounded on the typing keys
To fill the banker's purse,
But I was in financial quicksand
And struggling made it worse.
Four fiends of famine, like baying hounds,
Harangued me day and night.
I sought in vain for deliverance
From mind and body's plight.
Until one day, much in distress,
I flung myself at the feet
Of Chapter 7 who rescued me
From the fleecing pirate Fleet.
This blessing of a lawmaker
Relieved my burdened heart,
Empowered to be productive,
At peace with my fresh start.
Think not though I turned reckless
Or indulged in spending spree.
Far from it, I was chastened in
Reborn frugality.
And yet this gift has come at a price:
Full seven years I'm stained,
That landlords and employers shun me
Though my thrift is long sustained.
Like Jacob I must pay my dues
And make apology
For the double-dealing I endured
Of roistering treachery:
Moreover the breach of contract
That started this tale I relate
Was swallowed up, once settled,
In bankruptcy estate.
All in all, though, I have to say
Thank God for the respite
That Chapter 7 afforded me
Like a valiant white knight.
But Congress is repenting now
Of its earlier decree,
Insisting that the banker
Receive his Shylock fee.
Of all the companies to benefit,
MBNA Corp. gains the most.
And why not? They bankrolled this president
From pillar to poll to post.
So hail to the moneylender,
The usurer at large!
Note well the day he got his way
For 'twas the Ides of March.
Each senator with knife in hand
Inflicted a mortal wound,
Till overcome with traitors' arms,
Chapter 7 collapsed and swooned.
Look! In this place ran Clinton's
dagger through,
What a rent did Carper
make,
Here well-belovèd Baucus
stabbed
For lenders on the take.
My soul then lends this thought to tongue
As for kinder days it hankers:
"I do not recognize these senators now:
O what a bunch of bankers!"
March 2001
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