Keep the Change | Poetry by Tatiana

Keep The Change
By Tatiana Pahlen

He offered hope
He promised change
to a chanting cult,
emerged from misery –
all too fueled with outrage.
Losing their homes,
none smelled the stench,
whether one was dumb or Sage,
The nation was duped,
becoming borrowers.

A bloated bubble resurfaced
before wily managers –
the hedge funds owners,
spawned by nepotism,
with ill-gotten wealth,
betting against
Submerging mortgages:
indistinct,
Consigned in bulks.

A subtle plot, designed to crash,
the giant industries of Holdings;
bankrupting Freddy,
Fannie and Stearns,
they toppled banks,
jeering at the Bull’s strength;
Was Lehman Brothers
expunged from the maps
to serve as a stale,
sacrificial lamb?

Behind closed doors
They shaped their cause,
Perhaps, with the help
of “Elders Learned,”
Driven by power but
mostly greed,
going with anyone
yielded the highest bid.

Led by the Imps,
the rats ever won.
Getting greedier,
they monstrously grossed,
Chewing the core
Of doomed subprime mortgages;
none was spared,
Even their own.

The top echelons
of the bailed out banks
Left their soiled seats,
With sky bonuses!
Why did Congress
let them unscathed,
permitting the Treasurer
act like the Mob?

At the end of the day
Is this change we believed in
with a stimulus joke
so that a few may benefit?
“O” sounds eloquent,
Upbeat and fit,
but we need a leader,
Yes, one who can lead!