Insufficient Funds Poem by moon batchelder

a visitor, - he seemed to think his salvation; -
a spirtual pilgrim confused with a queen;
a woman who'd come from a rich western nation,
their seperate estates - little difference between.

for she was as poor as were they, in her fashion.
her fortune laid out to the last dollar bill
afforded a journey, - the price of her passage,
a vision accomplished, 'ere growing too ill.

her guide through his homeland; the mountains and temples,
she'd paid him good wages. he'd made her his friend.
she bought 'souvenirs' so perhaps she resembled
a woman of means; tho she'd no more to spend.

the cost of the trek would exhaust every dollar
she owned. and returning, her health would get worse.
so she couldn't save him from hardships and squallor.
what wealth she possessed was the treasure of verse,

and poetry, - she knew, would prove insufficient;
(appropriate currency only if sold)
nor fondness or gratitude offer remission.
impotent! friendship, - to need weighed in gold.