Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet of Wall Street to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
At noon the brokers gather at the diner on the square,
With their ties thrown over shoulders and their jackets on the chair.
They trade their tales of winners and the ones that got away,
Over soup and rye and pickles in the middle of the day.
The waitress knows their orders and she knows their moods as well,
She can read the market's fortune by the way their voices swell.
When the prices climb they tip her like the kings of all the town,
When the prices fall they grumble and they leave a nickel down.
But she smiles the same for both of them and fills the coffee cup,
For she knows a market's weather always changes, down or up.
So here's to the diner waitress with her pencil and her grace,
Who taught the kings of Wall Street how to wear a steady face.
Poet of Wall Street · Hear it on the channel ↗
Commentary
At a noisy lunch counter, the wisest person in the room is not a broker but the waitress who serves them.
Brokers gather “at the diner on the square” to “trade their tales of winners and the ones that got away.” The waitress “can read the market's fortune by the way their voices swell.”
When prices rise they tip “like the kings of all the town,” and when prices fall they “leave a nickel down.” She “smiles the same for both of them,” knowing “a market's weather always changes,” and so she teaches them “how to wear a steady face.”