Paper and Other Excesses

The corporate guys with gray flannel suits, And brief cases swinging on arms to boot, Came around to the conference room, "Computers will bring paper to its future doom" That was back in ‘84, When a young apprentice stood in the door, With a knowing smile, he listened with care, A secret plan behind his twinkling stare. He'd been trying to find a career, Didn't fall off a turnip truck, he made quite clear, Really didn't like the sound of work, But he was a man and he wouldn't shirk. It had hit him like a thunder bolt, Put your money in paper, don't follow the goat, Smug and delighted he turned his learning, He could be lazy and still be earning. The pumpkins were ripe, the corn was tall, His mind wandered outside to the fall, So bored was he with all their palaver, But polite he would be, sit still as a cadaver. Now it's decades later, the apprentice vindicated, More paper than ever, now he's satiated. For far from paper getting its due, It's stacked to all ceilings, blocks rooms with a view. It's shredded and colored and makes computer runs It has blue lines and folded, boxed, in recycled tons, Our apprentice now is filthily rich, Billing computer guys down more than a niche. Why just today, a citrine bracelet he gave, To a corporate guy's ex-wife he craftily craved, They have a grand condo up high in the sky, Where they can watch papers like rain flutter by.