DUTCHMAN
Great riches are a form of madness
The wealthily insane
Seemingly attracting their own kind
Bask in a delusion they appear entirely normal
I know of one such billionaire
He lives entirely in the sky
Perpetually he flies
Continent to continent
Aboard his private aeroplane
I’m sure you’ve guessed its name –
‘The Flying Dutchman’
You will not meet this man
On boulevard nor avenue
Nor any homestead anywhere –
For this way he’s required to pay
No taxation ‘Nowhere’
Insanity alone inspires
A logic such as his –
A sighting in a Zurich airport lounge
Once was verified –
He was brokering the purchase of Old Masters
Representing ‘parties’ too otherwise engaged
To peruse more than the price tag
On sets of token high-investment Art
His commissions are commensurate –
In that rare altitude
He cuts a mystic figure
A Zen of zeroes trailing from his pen –
Infinity’s profound if meaningless number
THE SPECIALIST
I specialise it’s true
In the troubles and the treatment
Of reluctant billionaires –
Consultants will advise
‘Aqua Vita’ once suspended
In a silver Asprey’s spoon
Is found most efficacious
As homeopathic cure
Boosting in the senile male
Grandiose if infantile entitlements
I suspect that our more senior practitioners
Have sampled similar tonics –
Fresh from The Med. in tailored shirt and shoes
Their bespoke blazers bright with yachting braid –
Incautiously they made contagious contact
Contracting that condition –
A virus known now only to the few
As ‘Filthy Lucre’
.
Bernard Saint