Faithful

Faithful in the service of money
I pursue my dull ambition
Through a forest thick with figures
Its trees solemn as letters of credit
Each leaf the gleaming currency of hope

Only nature is not yet
Subverted purchased though it be
It recovers with the seasons
And must be seduced again

But I have been a convert
Since my beginning
Storing nickels and pennies
In the change purse of the streets
Trading coins I’d hoarded
At the corner candy store
For glistening cola glasses
Donuts white as talcum
Bulging bars of chocolate
Rippling in their wrappers

Rewarded by tasty plunder
That assuaged a hunger
But not the one I had
No sweetness can do that

6/22/99,10/29-10/30/99, 1/20-1/21/00, 1/24-1/26/00, 2/1-2/21/00, 4/24/00

Copyright 1999, 2000 by Maurice Leiter

Posted with permission.