David Roth

Waltzing Imelda
I spent the whole weekend doing my taxesI hadn't had math since 1969I enlisted the aid of my new calculatorTo add up that old bottom lineAnd while I was counting those minuscule numbersI turned on the radio newsThey said Lady Imelda had left in ManilaSome 3000 pairs of new shoesWith my calculator I punched in three thousandDivided by three hundred and sixty fiveIf she lives 8.2 more years, she'll have new shoesEvery day for the rest of her lifeNow money is useful, it does come in handyI wont stand here grinding my axesBut 6000 shoes, come on give me a break I complained and returned to my taxesWhen not o much later my radio player said Ferdinand Marcos, civilianEarning five thousand six hundred dollars a yearHad somehow come up with three billionMy hands began shaking, I punched in three billionLetras de cancionesDivided by five thousand six hundred oneIt would only have taken some 535,000 yearsTo have doneSome people have trouble with drugs and with gamblingSome people have trouble with boozeOne of Ferdinand's problems was being too greedyAnd his wife was addicted to shoesBut they've gone packing, it's safety in numbersAnd the truth I suppose only he knowsHow one man made three billion dollarsFrom twenty-six million fellow FilipinosJust for fun I punched in 26 million peopleAnd I divided up all of the money he stoleIt made one hundred fifteen bucks thirty eight centsFor each Philippine body and soulI do support enterprise and I support justiceAnd even one's freedom to shoesBut give back the money to rebuild your countryI said, and I turned off the news From Letras Mania