It starts in tantrum’s pram; those tears for treats withheld –

Unfair and inexplicable. And then there is the wonder of it all:

Your pocket money tripled by that cheque from uncle –

x

Lack of these feeds the will to cheat one’s way to habitual

Special treatment. The compulsion is hereditary.

How support the life-style that goes with it without them?

x

As with gear, having enough takes over from all

Other aspirations, indeed the noblest, most personal,

Get jettisoned in favour of accumulating a stash.

x

What to acquire at the apposite time soon proves second nature,

But the dominant characteristic is that dependency on

Squirreling it away into off-shore purses, paranoid

x

About some rainy day that precedes a deluge. The ark

Must be loaded with cash.  More is what’s needed: there’s never too much.

The rich don’t buy their shoes in bargain shops.