She Returns I Refuse.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

if you have lots and lots of money,
this you can do: burn them and laugh.

for instance, there is this old woman
so stingy, she does not buy anything

for herself, lends money at high interest,
collects everything in deposit, she

does not travel, money is meant to be
hoarded, she does not give to charity,

what a waste of money, all the idle
lazy people in the world, she does not

even help relatives, sad to say even
her kids, left her for good, and she is

left alone in her bed of money, she
masters loneliness, despite, it is the

money that makes her alive at 85, she
remains to be that way, except for the

flattery and that gullibility, and this
she did, she burns all her money and

it was me who laughed, for regret always
comes at the end, she returns, i refuse.