We would have thought that 
he could have bought this and that,
but he was frugal in ways that 
              others struggle
                   in —
        in this consumer society promising humor’s
                               gayety but offering only anxiety
and only concluding that 
              the
               best is consuming
                                 this and that
                                         and that that
way 
is not the golden way
or the king’s highway
but ending in nothing gay,
just dismay
come what may
this very day
which is the only day
                               we have to consume
our way
                          up
                            and
                                down
the king’s highway
on our way 
nowhere today
and so we say

that while we thought that 
he could have bought this and that,
he was frugal in ways that 
            others struggle
                  in --
                       and out
                         and
                     round about

and he’s still here
                         and we have dried up 
                                      and blown

                                away.