Classic Poem

I

Hark, hark, the Mark in the Money Market sings!
And sweet Swiss francs in Bernese Banks
Yodel to Mammon a million thanks
For swift and profitable flight on funded wings.
To Mammon's face of many facets,
" Firm in tone" they raise their song;
" Fluctuant Bonds and Frozen Assets
Unto us no more belong."

II

Toll for the brave
Gold Standard sunk below the European wave.
For Britain's Gold Redemption Policy suspended,
And the Parity of the Pound (Alas, poor Yorick!) ended,
Lament from fiscal throats,
O patriot Five-Pound Notes;
And let your dirge with Wage Reductions be well blended.

III

O Franco-franc, O Dollar, and O Florin,
Exceed your rights, ferocious-fanged and foreign!
Pengo, Peseta, and Colonial Pound,
Abjure your mineral ancestry, and be
More glorious than mere gold from underground;
Soar, sag; and move portentously unsound;
Cause all the trouble you can; but O — be free!

IV

Finally, O English Dictionary, this conundrum settle,
And aid me to be poet-laureate of the aureate . . .
" Non-rusting yellow malleable ductile metal
Of high specific gravity"; ( as good as gold )
" Gold can be foil or dust or leaf; beaten or rolled.
Coins made of this. Money in specie. Bullion. Wealth."
Gold this; gold that. Pure gold. Gold cannot buy good health.
Gold plate. Resources. Interest. Incomes. Power of purchase.
Pays Unemployment Buys Champagne, and builds new churches . . .
The finest Sport on earth is job-stock Speculation . . .
Deliver us, O Lord, from Currency Inflation.