Boundary Values Poem by Barry Middleton

no longer rich was the man
who told me yesterday
that had I not known riches
I would not understand
the pain to reach the top
and then to lose it all
yet all he lost was cash
but yet I pitied him
and wondered had he known
a sweeter vanished treasure
the silent company
of eyes and hearts
so interlocked
one could not tell
where one began
and where the other ceased
I could not laugh
nor tell him truly
could not belittle
petty gambling losses
but thought him poorer still
who valued money so
that empty was his heart
he had not lost a love
but surely never had
he loved
and so had lost it all