In Search Of The Golden Fleece - The Sheepskin Poem by Sidi Mahtrow

Seems just a moment ago
When it was said to be so
That owning this piece of tanned leather
Guaranteed a pass to 'where-ever'

For it was widely known
That the owner would be renowned
As the bearer of good news
And could name the price for his union dues.

A trip to a noted school was all it took
To mark a salary in the book
That was in six figures or more
And best of all, no one kept score.

So mom and pop's favorite one
Would the long gown don
Then take off for Wall Street
To join others feasting on the meat.

Some of the carcasses were ripe
While others were just bits of tripe
But regardless, all that was required
Was to trade pieces for bits of lire.

Best of all the rivers and ponds were full
Of catches that with a bit of 'Bull'
Could be shaped into another vehicle
For investing by those not so fickle.

So this bit of sheepskin cast
Upon waters racing past
Trapped bits of what appeared to be gold
And it mattered not, truth be told.

Gold or not, it was of no concern
As there was always another sucker born
Who would see the color and the flash
And insist that good times where here at last.

Many a mansion on the hill
Or on the water front, better still
Could be built and sold again
Before it was necessary for payments end.

Fortune was there to behold
As everyone wanted their piece of gold
So with encouragement from the Fed
And Congress, to whom they were wed
Insisted that all should have a share
In the abundance that was everywhere.

Buyers came from near and far
To participate in the bazaar
Sheiks and other notables
Were among the buying rabble.

Insisting that regardless of price
The must have something twice as nice
Wine and women, could be bought
With the profits of the moment.

And best of all, there were the cautious ones
Who sought out safe investments from their clones
Offering a return far greater than the market would allow
If they would trust the bearer of the sacred cow.

No one bothered to question; the word was 'trust'
After all, there was no way of going bust.
So everyone flipped and flipped again
As if the world would never end.

Then one dark and gloomy day
There was a forebearing that came that way
Suggesting there were too many sellers
And buyers were gone in a blur.

With payments coming due
The panic stricken wondered what to do
So they dropped the keys and walked away
Leaving the holder with no funds to pay.

Then it occurred to some that the solution
Was to be had in a new administration
That promised that all would be made right
Correcting the evils of the Conservative Right.

A new broom sweeps clean is a given
As the new ones arrived as if from Heaven
And set about correcting the eight years of wrong
That all had suffered for so long.

Alas, alack and woe was the cry
We inherited such a mess of broken clay
That it will take a Strong Government
To bring an end to this ill Continent.

And of course the newly minted sheepskin bearers
Were the very ones who would be carriers
Of the water for all the rest
As they filled their own silver chest.

Rushing to the Potomac without a plan
Except to rid the nation of the Man
Who all had hated for the years past
Now gone in a flash.

The easiest task was to change the gold
Into a paper currency of old.
To make it appear to be
Much more than was there in history.

A bit of Merlin's tricks and shazam!
In the eye of the beholder it was the same.
Pyrite was cheap and available
And it was just as stable.
(Well not really.)

Who would know that the smell of sulfur in the air
Would be the only clue that Old Nick had been there.
And now all would be made whole again
As Inflation was given a fatal spin.

As to the sheepskins that once trapped tiny bits of gold
they're empty as the pyrite has been over sold.

The Golden Fleece;
We've found it, and are here to tell,
The meaning of the word,
Fleece, has other meanings as well.