The High Price of Daffodils

I wander lonely as a cloud
In subdivided Manor Hills,
Where stands my house, of which I’m proud,
Although it’s mortgaged to the gills:
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
(A few are dying of elm disease).

Continuous as the stars that shine
Are all the bills that I must pay;
They stretch in never-ending line
Across my vision, night and day:
Ten thousand, see I at a glance,
I need for patio, pool, and plants.

The waves beside me dance, but they
Do not entrance me with their glee;
Not even poets can be gay
Who owe a finance company:
I gaze, and gaze, with just one thought;
The wealth it takes for what I’ve bought.

And oft, when on the couch I lie
In vacant and expensive mood,
I tell my analyst that I
Am losing all my fortitude:
And when I mention Manor Hills,
He gives me tranquilizing pills.