Comeuppance Under Construction

It carries a load that weighs nothing – a sack for gravel
dangling under a crane that is outside our field of view.

We gaze at it puzzled, open-mouthed, tracking the blue
polypropylene bag for as long as it will remain in travel,

swaying back and forth in the breeze – because it’s light,
does not register on the scale, and we are at the height

of suspense as a stunt plane does somersaults overhead,
starts emitting contrails, skywriting a message of dread:

Mene Mene Tekel Upharsin. Watch a man’s nemesis
as it overtakes him. His riches will soon be shared out

among his rivals, assets carved up by his arch-enemies.
The tyrant has been outplayed – by stealth, not by rout.

An empty rubble sack is swinging overhead, taunting
a man who is weighed in the balance, found wanting.