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.
There once were tulip flowers that were worth a house in town,
And the people traded petals till the petals tumbled down.
Then came the shiny railroads and the websites with a dream,
And the prices blew up higher than a kettle's rising steam.
A bubble is a beauty with a rainbow on its skin,
It floats above the rooftops with the whole world peeping in.
Everyone is buying, so the buying must be right,
And the bubble swells up bigger in the flattering spotlight.
But a bubble has no bottom and it has no heart inside,
And a pin of doubt is all it takes to end the dizzy ride.
So when everyone is floating on a rainbow in the air,
Keep one foot upon the ground and keep your pin of doubt with care.
Poet of Wall Street · Hear it on the channel ↗
Commentary
From tulips to railroads to websites, the poem traces how crowds inflate prices, and how easily those prices burst.
Tulips were once “worth a house in town” until “the petals tumbled down.” Later “the shiny railroads and the websites with a dream” rose “higher than a kettle's rising steam.” A bubble is “a beauty with a rainbow on its skin.”
Crowds believe that “everyone is buying, so the buying must be right,” but “a bubble has no bottom” and “a pin of doubt is all it takes to end the dizzy ride.” The advice is to “keep one foot upon the ground.”