Stubbornly stingy, --
Downright hubristic, strolled
Our lender Collector as he visits his
Nervous customers county wide.
Wealthy now … and surprisingly –
Admired by other smug, entitled vultures,
Our materialistic lender Collector
Loves his luxurious and quaint lifestyle.
The same can be said about, Evie,
His smoking hot upper society wife.
As Springtime’s cool winds spread even more
Cheer and comfort, lender Collector yelled,
“O shazam! O forgiving, understanding Jesus!
Hello sweet, sweet, revered paradise!
What a lavish and opulent existence
I've found.
I’ll sing my Shangri-La, la, la, la.
I’ll sing my Shangri-La.”
In the bright orange-winged,
Black-veined colors
Of a fluttering monarch butterfly,
Lovely’s infinity burst out to grab his attention.
At that point a fat rainbow pierced sunshine
To illuminate an impeccable Texas sky,
Lender Collector thought to himself,
“Money gods … you’ve truly blessed me.”
He had a yearning to float on transcendent
Cloud nine, so he shouted, “Hallelujah!
Here’s to the sweet taste of success!”
His greedy motto: “I'll collect as many pennies,
Paper, and deeds -- as humanly possible.”
He found zero shame when collecting.
According to him, “ Shame is a game for
Society’s destitute, nothing more.”
This aggressive pinchpenny tells homeowners,
Renters, and others borrowers that,
“You must always promptly repay outstanding
Loans using my special interest rate,
Or I will kick you out onto those streets
Or put a countywide bounty on you to collect.”
Every page of his unique, personal bible
Regrettably says,
“More money; gimme money;
I want more money by nearly any means.”
With no secret places left to hide,
Borrowers guard their leather purses
While triple defending their precious pride.
Regrettably, haughty
Scroogelike lender Collectors long ago
Misplaced their hearts.
Lender Collector, it seems,
Had a lot of quality time on his side, --
So he and his friendly horse Vigor –
Enthusiastically glide, glide, glided
Over nirvana’s unspoiled, plush carpets.
Happening upon clean, undisturbed waters,
He uttered, “Watch me, if you will,
Snatch plenty of fat, mouthwatering catfish
From Lake Serenity.”
O joy, O joy, O joy a zillion, zillion times, --
He had so much unleashed joy
That even busy billionaires became by
Fair means or by foul, quite envious.
Phenomenal wildlife plays here where –
Nature’s unhindered gardens sing healing
Lullabies and spirituals.
Perhaps, dear, dear friends,
They even gleefully sing directly to
A particular, peculiar, strutting antagonist …
Earthly sojourners,
Joy happens to be nature’s genuine appeal.
We shall therefore, willingly accept God’s will.
O joy, O joy, O joy another zillion, zillion times, --
Again, applaud nature’s wondrous delights.
Unquestionably, our lender Collector
Loves his sassy grassy green awe-inspiring
Eden-like private playground.
Paradise wouldn’t be the same paradise
Without his sweet, sensible, sexy
And smart, tiny princess Evie.
Still feeling rather entitled,
Still never wanting to be idle,
Lender Collector felt utterly vital
And actually he also felt fairly invincible, --
As he strolled to his ritzy stable.
In fact, he felt like loudly singing while
Tall tap … or swift break dancing --
Under that same incredible rainbow sky.
Without a doubt, all those Elysian fields in our
Multicolored, great-wide magnificent galaxy
Had already gifted to him fortune’s favor.
After boldly leaping out of his ritzy stable,
He discovered his favorite steed, Vigor,
Was quite willing and quite able –
So they both broke wild for a few
Splendid, carefree miles.
A dauntless stallion, an excitable man, and
Pure bliss unconstrained, merged and
Then exploded as they dared to aggressively
Rampage well beyond their stifling abodes.
I think, perhaps, that during these
Most intensely reflective times,
Dear friends, we should also ---
Sometimes, to too much caution say …
A great gigantic gargantuan goodbye.
It seems to me, as a poetic rule,
“I should haves people” cry most!”
Okay, it’s okay to be extra jealous –
All of you envious big city folks.
It’s okay to want to expand and explode,
All of you extra bright galactic supernovas.
Give our lender Collector his due,
Not because he wildly broke totally wild,
But because, now,
He knows it’s okay to let go and to smile.
Now, run wild lender Collector!
Run wild! Run wild!
Run wild as if you discovered thunderbolts
Shooting up out of both your cowboy boots.
My adventurous friends,
You should also run wild, run wild,
Run reckless and wild …
At least once, or just for a little while.
Galloping fierce with a long, steady stride,
He noticed beauty spread wide.
Bluebonnets were gaily dancing just up ahead.
Yellow, red, pink deeply hued roses charmed
In long ago created rose fields.
These hardy roses, sold worldwide, --
Cause lonely hearts to thump with pride …
Blackfoot daisies were thriving wildly, and
Their white and soulful yellow colors briefly
Entertained a spellbound fellow.
Overwhelmed by pride, our fascinated
Lender Collector suddenly remembered
That smoking hot wife,
Our short, but curvaceous Evie, --
Had begged him to, “Slow down, and please
Stick to all the safest trails.”
Up and down through all those rural
Picturesque grasslands and rolling slopes
Of stately Six Fables Ranch,
He on his dauntless steed Vigor, boldly rode.
Tall, fearless, sure of himself, --
He thought he could easily lasso his
Often-watching, always-warming sun.
He thought to himself, “Run, Vigor, run!
If only …
All things in our complicated lives
Could turn out to be -- nothing but pure fun!”
Then perhaps and maybe too,
All of that elusive pure fun, might emerge,
And somehow blend
Into every crazy dreamer’s actual reality.
Yes, my adventurous confidantes –
Lender Collector could almost touch
That emblematic, rare edge of true perfection.
You do understand, don’t you –
That black, powerful, big steed Vigor,
Quite amazingly,
Didn’t even blink or stagger, even though
He carried a somewhat stout load?
Lender Collector thought to himself,
“Nature's simple beauty might be marinated
By elusive perfection, -- since it fly’s, it runs,
It crawls, it floats, it swims, it slithers,
It pulls itself, it blooms, and it wilts
Among many other cool things …
Distinctly, nature’s eye-catching beauty
Is often a highly desired and sought after prize.
Obviously, it helps to make
All of your hard lives … worthwhile.”
Again, up and down even more delirious,
Fun, sunbaked green, prudently bedight
Country roads,
Gallantly, boldly, unbridled –
He and his trusty steed Vigor,
Rode and continued to explore.
Yes, they rode O so very, very valiantly,
Until, they happened upon a terribly large
And loud-proud old road toad.
Yes, for a memorable and brief time,
Our smiling explorer did fully enjoy paradise’s
Lovely journey. And sad to say, sadly,
Sometimes, even madly,
Most dreamer’s iffy adventures abruptly end.
True, things changed badly,
For possibly an oblivious, unrepentant fiend, --
Who oftentimes seems unapologetically mean.
True, most of us simple mortals,
At inopportune times,
Get challenged by a few new dubious destinies.
No! No! I’m not trying to tell you
That a wild wily wolf can become a lamb.
True, if not for Evie’s love and alluring bosom,
A man like lender Collector might identify
With a hard and heartless older aging oak tree.
But, sometimes, unavoidably, even regrettably,
Men must do what men must do …
If you don’t believe me, just ask Moses
Or if you are blessed enough to get the chance,
Just ask savior Jesus Christ.
And yes my fellow Christians, they are just
Two randomly chosen examples.
Yes! Yes! O yes, indeed!
Formidable Lady Karma jumped in.
She marks our past, good or quite bad,
With a new and unpredictable beginning, --
Or possibly a sudden ending. Apparently,
No one has yet mastered dastard disaster!
Where O where O where, my dearest Lord,
Must all of us waiting, watching, reporting
Bards begin or end?
Time and time again,
Lady Karma pulls Milky Way galaxy’s
Harmonic strings and ignites some
Quite unexpected and unimaginable things.
O yes, indeed, we often hope for rewarding
Treats and tasteful tuneful trophies,
But, first we must always request,
“God restrain! God detain!
God please hold back great disaster!
A spooked stallion, a fat tree branch,
That terribly large and loud-proud old road toad,
And a naughty, tall Scroogelike Collector,
All merged in a beautiful space.
Random galactic coincidence, however,
Keeps everyone guessing and daily praying
For God’s continual grace.
(And, in this humble offering, so did I, ---
Try to keep you guessing.)
O no! O unpredictable destiny,
O sledge hammer that makes mush
Out of unapologetic, arrogant men and women!
Tall, terrible lender Collector
Seriously damaged his tall frame.
Now understandably,
His tall frame will never ever
Be quite the same.
Revenge seekers, stop your cynical
Brains from red-hot smoking.
Stop those unique hyena whoops. Stop joking.
Are you hoping greedy man lost everything?
Stop gagging and choking while scoffing.
You are definitely cruel by anybody’s rules –
You unkind, unfeeling tools.
No! No! Too-real-kill-seekers!
He didn’t. Go figure!
Our villain didn’t lose everything.
Brilliant and quite organized,
Smoking hot young wife, Evie, fixed his business
By charming his prey, oops!
I meant to say, “his valued customers.”
And yes, curious Sherlocks,
Evie refinanced most of them.
Who knew?
That Evie was the only little girl daughter of
Their county’s Midas Touch Man!
She had learned to be resilient, wise
And also quite professional at an early age.
Her papa had prepared her for any stage.
Go figure kill-seekers.
Go reflect all you mean pessimists.
Pessimists please turn to the next page!
Who knows who our loving God will
Bless next? Yes, random kill-seekers
Along with all my optimistic optimists,
God’s blessings could actually hit any of you …
Now upon this temporary playground yearning,
We find ourselves life lessons learning –
So try to guess damaged lender Collector’s fate!
I double, … no I triple dare you!
No! No, silly Sherlocks!
Pessimists, don’t you have a clue?
What’s a simple old poet to do ---
Draw you a detailed map?
Clue, it has nothing to do with hate …
2nd clue, it has everything to do with love …
3rd and final clue, it has nothing to do
With my favorite color blue …
Time and time again,
Simple loyalty
Breaks greed’s silver-laced chains,
Of all evil and all sin in Hell’s wide domain.
Evie’s love was still rising,
Evie’s courage was even more surprising,
And from his ruins appeared
Two new lambs of God …
Doubtful, doom-predicting knaves,
Evie always totally loved and adored
Her sky-high, stingy, surly scoundrel.
Yes, longtime pessimists,
Poetic justice still lives …
But, somehow, for this nostalgic theme,
True love proved a whole lot stronger …
And now, shazam, shazam, Alakazam!
For all of you lucky poetic dreamers,
Who think just like me,
We can all say it again and again together, ---
Ha! Ha! Shangri-La!
Ha! Ha! Shangri-La!
Ha! Ha! Shangri-La!
Although lender Collector never again
Mounted Vigor,
His opened soul grew much wiser.
Okay, for all you Edgar Allan Poe fans,
It also grew much bigger …
Go figure!
Ha! Ha!
Shangri-La, la, la, la.
Also, for all you clever Sherlocks,
Shouldn’t you already know it,
He became yet another -- fine old shy poet –
Who writes lyrical poems for his special queen.
Happy, they relax in the calming quietness
Of cool, simple shade.
It is their very, very special place where,
The seasoned, sweet music of both
Their aware souls -- will likely never ever fade …
At times, they even participate in parades
By driving a fancy buggy.
I’m almost absolutely certain that by now,
You’ve already guessed it, --- that their fancy
Buggy is pulled by a stout studly stallion
Named Vigor.
Go figure!
Ha! Ha! Shangri-La, la, la, la.
Ha! Ha! Shangri-La, la, la, la.
Their newly earned grades: A+.
Note: Hello. Thanks for visiting this page.
It has been a long, long, while, but clearly,
I still write poetry.
For those of you attentive poetry readers
Who recognized my style,
And think this poem is familiar. You are correct.
In addition to this poem,
I’ve written 2 other poems in E.A. Poe’s Eldorado style
Because I really like it.
Those 2 poems are Shade and
From the Ruins Appeared A Dove.
For a few years, I had wanted to once again
Pay homage to Mr. Poe and specifically his
Eldorado style and I finally pick up a pen,
U know, in a way. lol
For you perfectionist,
Forgive me for not sticking closer to his style.
The title: I may change it. My titles are
Usually the “”” 1st,”””or “””last thing”””
I think of before,
After, or during the write of each poem!
Go figure right. Often, that turns out to be
A word or phrase in the poem.
I thought of, of course, shorter titles like:
1. From the Ruins Appeared a Rainbow
2. Vigor and Lender Collector
3. Ha! Ha! Shangri-La!
4. Go Figure ( because they were almost
The last 2 words in this poem )
5. And From His Ruins Appeared
Two New Lambs of God …
6. Evie and Eden or Evie in Eden (for the ladies)
7. Come Sit With Me
8. Go figure! Ha! Ha! Shangri-La, la, la, la.
9. Ha! Ha! Shangri-La, la, la, la.
OK, U get the idea …
Game or challenge if you wish:
Guess which of the above underlined methods
I used to title this poem: Come Sit With Me in the Shade
And We’ll Watch a Parade
1st or last thing?
--- 1 guess only please
(It’s all about fun, fun, fun …
Also, I got a little carried away and kept writing.
Yes, writing is relaxing for me.
And, I had a ton of fun with this poem.
I hope u did too …
I definitely got carried away there.
Guess I’ll settle down soon 🤨…
For those of you, poetry readers,
Who think you know me.
Ok, maybe not! Ha! Ha! Shangri-La!
The above text is copyright Jimmy L. Holder
AKA © ShyPoet1 ~ May 2024, and may not be reproduced without permission.
Share
Print
Save
Follow
Few will have time to read the whole thing in our multitasking and texting environment these days. Where we jump from one blurb to the other while trying to find time to relax from all of the urgent information of rather inferior quality.
I fully enjoy the effort you put into this poem and if it is not the final version, that's okay. You can reach near perfection if not perfection by reediting. I rarely do, but my poems are much shorter and I write them to be succinct and as truthful as I can possibly make them.
Ron