I stand at the ready of the master’s hand,

Awaiting his memo, dictating his every command.

Yet he is not the master of heaven, nor even of this land.

He is but flesh and blood, implementing the corporate plan.

He sits alone with his portfolio in hand,

 working his subordinates to the bone.

Laughing with hysteria, he climbs upon his ivory throne,

Crunching his numbers and moving decimals upon a paper plane.

This has become his obsession, in a world of venture and capital gains.

Decisions abound all around and must be made,

on who keeps his job, and who gets paid.

Cost, cut cost is his greedy and misaligned decree,

Don’t these subs know…that in life, nothing is free.

Free? Did I say free, hmmm, for there is a thought,

That is such a splendid word, thought he,

As the master planned his next and final decree.

All work over forty hours or more, will forever become free,

No more overtime shall I pay these spineless sheep.

Ahh yes, free is a splendid word indeed, said the master,

Who in life, was nothing more that a common thief.

Aye, but alas, things did change,

 and now the master sits alone in his room,

With thoughts of contempt, his mind does loom.

For his profits are down and his stock has grown lame,

And as his losses mount,

 the reality hits, that it is he, who is to blame.

His futile attempt, to reach the golden bonus shore,

has brought woe to not only him,

 but also all those on the floor.

For soon….

The equipment fails to run, and the morale is in shreds,

And everywhere he now turns, he is quick to learn,

that the once happy and profitable plant…is dead.

Yet still alone, he sits now upon a tarnished ivory throne,

And bemoans to the corporate gods, that it is all gone.

With all that said and done, the greedy master reaches for a gun,

To which he puts to his miserable head.

He cries aloud but is not heard…oh woe is me,

For no more gold have I, and all the little people have left me to die.

I know that I did not treat them well…this is not how I wanted it to be,

He laments over this one lat time…pulls the trigger and enters into eternity.

He opens his eyes to see a hot and burning shore

And realizes all to late,

That it was his greed and unconcern, that brought about this fate.

Yes, oh yes, nothing is as it seems

 as the gates of hell open wide

And swallows him into its ravenous ravine.