Hindustan Times
A Messy Davos
In the lap of Switzerland’s mighty snows
Where a talkfest for the rich annually flows
There’s a mood of desperation as a crisis grows
Ah! This is not the same old chirpy Davos
Time was when honchos and heads of the West
Told us poor Asians how to look our best
They gave us reforms and hand-me-down advice,
Taught of market virtues and socialist vice
The boot, it now seems, was on the other foot
When Wall Street collapsed behind their suits
Leaving Europe whining, with a crisis in Greece
Now they are meeting to decide who to fleece.
Somebody, we thought, will pay for Athens
What’s a billion here or there between ole friends?
But, as protesters howl in the Continent and Stateside
Moneybags are looking for a place to hide
The problem you see is now trans-Atlantic
Europe’s indebted, but America’s frantic
Uncle Sam worries on Athens’ dues
But more that he does not catch the Greek flu
The Germans won’t pay for drachma debt
Berlin’s taxpayers will fume and then fret
The French sound important as they always do
But what will they give? Does anyone have a clue?
The Brits are safe, pounded to isolation
Their Stiff Upper Lip an agreeable insulation
They’ll make the right noise, but avoid the bill
Others’ glasses are not for them to fill
There is however, the matter of a default
If Greece buckles under, it is everybody’s fault
If a mere New York bank can be too big to fail
Jack and Jill for Athens must surely fetch a pail
Honchos at the ski jump are speaking as we verse
Hoping Europe’s bad does not become worse
Am sure they’ll stitch up an honourable rescue
For at stake is the Union in the thing called EU
