Recyclers Lament
Apologies to The Raven

Once upon a morning dreary through my eyes all hazed and bleary,
Viewing pages after pages of accounts payable and due, as I nodded
Nearly napping suddenly there came a rapping a most insistent tapping
Right outside my office door, it's the wind I feel and nothing more

But the tapping did continue and my worries and my fears grew
Is it some early morning collector threatening to beat me black and blue?
Could it be a tough enforcer or a fellow poet, Chaucer?
Or a mean and nasty hellion from a distant time of yore?
Merely this and nothing more

You imagine too much bad stuff after all it shouldn't be that though
To just open wide the portal and invite him through the door
There's no need to quake and tremble though your mind has merely rambled
To a place that's dark and scary full of I.O.U.s, notes and gore
Only this and nothing more

You must look upon the bright side after all there's low and high tide
And although you owe others money, they owe just as much to you,
Maybe there's someone tapping who is here with money flapping
Out of their pockets to pay you all the money they owe you by the score
Lots of cash and nothing more

Could it be a sweepstakes patrol, or Ed McMahon rich and old?
Giving money to the needy, a Recycler tired and broke
Maybe it's our State's own lottery, with the cash we've won in pottery,
Or notice of the millions our rich uncle has bequeathed (poetic license)
Certified checks by the sheath

It could be someone here to pay you, not a bruiser out to slay you
One of those who owe you money and whose balance is past due
Here I leaped across my desk chair and much quicker than the March Hare
Opened wide the door to end the noise and face what fate there be
Twas a branch fallen off a nearby tree

Not a Raven or a hellion not Ed McMahon (or Red Skelton),
Not a creditor to beat me, or a debtor to implore
Just a crummy fallen branch, which made my mind whirl and dance
To a far and distant rhythm that my imagination scored
Neither bird nor fowl forevermore

So while contemplating laybacks and arranging terms of paybacks
And mailing statements out with stickers bright that say PAST DUE,
I'm convinced it will get better and the sales from out the cellar
Will rise to the heavens making totals staggering with wealth
Till that time, be thankful for good health.

Gary Wiesner is co-owner of Pro-Auto Recyclers, Williamstown, New Jersey