Giovanni didn't trust Michelangelo,
He'd heard that for guys he was hot.
But for minimum pay of a florin* a day,
He was willing to give it a shot.
As soon as they started the session,
Gio's senses said something was wrong.
Mickey couldn't decide how to pose him--
Wearing armor, a toga, a thong?
This went on for a while, and then with a smile
The master casually said to the dude,
"Please don't think me a jerk,
But to get this to work,
I must have you totally nude."
Avoiding eye contact, Gio peeked at his contract,
Then took a deep breath and replied,
"Si, but with the insistence that you keep your distance,
And another five florins besides."
And that's the way the story goes,
I've repeated it word for word,
How the most famous statue in all of the world,
The one that's called "David" occurred.
*Author's note: The florin, ducat, and lire were common currencies during Michelangelo's time. A florin, according to one source, was worth 2 crowns, approximately $26.00 today. I could not find the name of the model who posed for this sculpture nor how much he was paid. I doubt seriously if M. paid his models in florins, but I like the alliterations.
How could you get yourself in such a predicament, Antonio?
So many times before, you had to bail out your friend Bassanio.
He has shown himself to be profligatory and irresponsible.
This time, Bassanio asks for a three thousand ducat principal.
Bassanio goes to Shylock, the Jewish money lender.
There is an unusual loan condition Shylock would render:
He gets a pound of Antonio's flesh if he is not paid back on time.
Even back in those days, didn't that seem like a crime?
I'm not going to spoil it for you by telling how it ends.
I will just say that it is always good to have influential friends.
Based on the play "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare
If you’re poor and have spent your last ducat,
you might end it by kicking the bucket.
But bereft of all hope,
should you hang from a rope?
I say buckets and ropes can go suck it.
A Fairy Tale
This skinny lonely wolf reduced to eating worms
Expulsed from his arguing with the leader wolf how best
To catch caribous
Nose to the ground it found an open chest of fifty
Gold ducats and since they shone so bright he ate them all
And heavy was its belly
When other wolf saw his stomach they thought he was
A successful hunter and he taught them how to kill
Caribous and deer too.
As a leader dog, he was the first to eat from a kill and
Left behind a coin or as they a ducat and a hunter stalked him
To find in his excrete another coin
Fifty times the hunter dug into wolf shift and came up rich
And trekked home but a blizzard came, his was ill prepared
This heavyweight he dragged about
Put the ducats under a tree and tire he came home
When the weather cleared, he found the tree the coins were gone
And a boney wolf was walking away it had a huge stomach.