"Saw Bill" he said

"Oh" I replied

He waited snooping chattering

Sniffing for a reaction

Clamouring

Not knowing I am far too wise

To fall for this meddler's disguise

That aside inside

A thousand questions bubbled and troubled

... Bill lives? Like in that photo I once stole

Bill's smiling still?

I talked instead about

The state of the economy

Like I alone could figure out

Every fiscal inadequacy

Poor flibbertigibbet

Never got the wit I taught

Or the conclusive epithet

That's the trouble see

Gossipy people thrive on flinging

Words at you or a name still stinging

And then go into overdrive

Smugly hungering for pain surety

They don't get it

(He thought he'd get

Titillation)

This blabbing meddling hypocrite

Forced in the very end to quit

Taking away instead my views on the economy

Leaving Bill safe again

In my memory