Pre-paid Appearances To Keep

In days of old,
Long ago.
When today those now aging,
Can remember to have been told...
Wishes to want dreams to come true,
All one had to do...
Was to keep the dream.
But also accept to expect,
That dream maybe delayed.
And it withheld.
Until an angel of luck,
Appeared in a rainbow.
With a bucket of gold,
Dropped at the end of it.

And then towards the end,
Of those days of old.
Credit was invented.
To debit those dreams deferred.
Pre-paid.
With a down-payment and a promise made,
Done with one's signature.
As if to sign over,
One's own life and soul.
For possessions to impress.
In exchange for temporary happiness.

Remember the Jones family?
The ones who moved next door?
Getting more to impress.
Leaving others living in the neighborhood,
Feeling depressed and less competitive.
Traveling and adding,
Additions to their homes.
Driving new cars claiming to own.
With children growing up going to college.
On approval loans to get.
Exposing to show and share their dreams.
Yet not their credit cards maxed to debts.

Today?
The Jones family has long moved away.
Leaving no one to know,
If all their dreams have been fully paid.

Only those with outstanding loans.
Doing their best to stretch a dollar.
Hoping to prevent...
Repossession on cars and foreclosure,
On their homes.
Moan and groan,
About appearances to keep.
And wishing never again to see,
The Jones family.