G o l d    R u l es

Here’s to the ones who got away

So clever and conniving

The less astute did swing and sway

For all their hopeless striving

But those who figured out a way

to re-invent their actions

Why, now they swagger, speak and play

-- align themselves with factions

And freely give to charities

Creating great foundations

Wax lyrical on disparities

And strife among the nations

You’d never guess to see them now

The carnage once behind them

You’d be amazed to know just how

Their captors once did find them

They were a callous, cruel lot

Wild pleas they never heeded

Cold greed and gold were all they’d got

But that was all they needed

Yes, while they tortured and they killed

(Before their country lost)

With purloined gold their coffers filled

And that was victory’s cost

They bought a politician here

A former statesman there

Oh, though it may have cost them dear

They paid up fair and square

They’ve hob-nobbed with the well-to-do

And dined with politicians

And grand agendas they’ve pushed through

So high are their ambitions

And now they look so squeaky-clean

So generous and candid

You’d hardly guess where they had been

What each one, to a man, did

So here’s to those who got away

And here’s to those who freed ‘em

And justice? Well, what’s that? we say

And morals? Why? Who needs ‘em?