Cash For Keys Poem by John F. McCullagh

They'd struck the best deal they could manage.
Then the movers showed up at the door.
The home they had loved, they departed
It hurt them that the neighbors all saw.

With two girls, both boarding at Stanford
they'd refinanced their home to raise cash.
Just before J.P. Morgan acquired
Bear Sterns and before Lehman crashed.

By the Spring, Susan's work became part time.
Ronnie threw out his back in the Fall.
With income down half from the boom years,
foreclosure was hard to forestall.

In Riverdell, there are some mansions
that people pay millions to own.
Although Susan's place was more modest,
the river ran right past her home.

Susan's house now sits sad and empty
the snow piling up all around.
It 's been winterized by her old lender
at least till a buyer is found.

I wonder if Eve and her Adam
suffered just as much pain and disgrace
when they got their eviction from Eden
and had to hand back the key to the place.