If I

IF I WERE KING FOR A DAY

If I were king for only a day, one fine day,
I  would change all the rules, starting at the top.
Beggars would ride in gleaming black SUVs
and the President, himself, would have to walk
To all his meetings, no matter how near or far.  

The bank loan officers would be required to sit,
Outside in the sun, each with his own little tin cup,
And the congenitally wealthy, those who were born
With the proverbial silver spoons in their mouths
Would all have to report to the local carwash.  

The least would be first, and the first, naturally,
Would learn what the word drudgery really means.
Those whose hands had previously only known
The caress of pens and contracts, would  each get
A close, personal knowledge of shovels and hoes.  

If I were King for only a day, what a fine day, indeed,
I would insist that those who draw pensions would
Actually be retired, or surrender their pension check
While those who have subsisted on the meager pittance
Of Social Security would receive substantial bonuses.  

The idle working class, CEO’s and Executive Vice-Presidents,
Who have received a more-than-fair share of the pie,
With limos, a corner office and the secretary with
Limited typing skills, these would all have to go the way
Of the dinosaur, gone but not forgotten, and never missed.  

In the grand scheme of things, I do not amount to much,
A fly buzzing around the ears of those with too much
Unearned income, merely a pest to be swatted aside
Without a second thought, like the annoying sand fleas
On some self-important nobody’s private beach.  

But, if I were King, for only a day, I’d change this world
As much as I could in as short a time as humanly Possible,
Without regard for the consequences, for the howling
of the dispossessed, the newly poor, treating them
with the very same consideration they have treated us.  

For, if I were King for a single day, it would be a fine
Day indeed, but a very short one, for the rich would find
Their moral compass askew and decide that revolution
Was not such a bad concept after all and spend their
Last dime to ensure I was only King for one single day.