K.R.Prior - Poetry - Poems - Ballad of the Golden Cow

I tell the tale of the golden cow
that ate the world,
ate Alberta and Arizona,
most of Amazonia
and the whole of Patagonia

they laughed all the way to the bank in Alberta
and south of the border
they worshipped the cow
for beefing up the NASDAQ
and nourishing the Dow,
for there poured forth
from the holy beast
copious streams of liquid gold
and regular heaps
of gleaming nuggets, bars and ingots.

it didn’t matter what it ate
the more it ate the more it  shat,
golden eggs, golden handshakes,
gilt-edged stocks, Treasury bonds,
high-yield assets, mutual funds,
bulls and bears and golden geese,
golden bread, golden meat,
golden even wine and water,
endless sparkling golden rain
glutting streams and feeding rivers
swelling rising golden seas
as far as lens can reach
and beyond
where under skies of molten gold 
the waves break on the dwindling shores 
of a golden silent world.