Gan Yu - XXXVI

Welcome to the floating world
For all those of indeterminate means
Whether living high on the hog
Or hand to mouth
It matters not all that much

Life resembles the miraculous
From whence comes
These continuous blessings

But if the answer is
From some kind of trust fund
Then your story will very likely
Prove much less interesting to me
Really who cares about the
Countless scions of the ruling class
And their endless attempts
At self-pleasuring by courting
Self-ruin through further turns
Of the roulette wheel

I'm much more interested
In the wily antics of the hard working
And self-made homeless man
Take for example Richard Musto
Who must go to such enormous
Lengths to keep himself amused
Panhandling up and down 28th street
In order to make ends meet
All the while saving up
For his next trip
To Atlantic City

At the staid old Hilton or gaudy new Revel
Or wherever he next manages
To cadge his way to another
Free meal from the casinos

As if he has it all figured out
How to eke out a living for himself
Like a pilot fish adjacent a shark
Accumulating points
In exchange for squandering
His insubstantial means