The chief thief's pickles

The Chief Thief lacks the dimes and even nickels
That he needs to extricate himself from pickles
Of the legal sort that have him somewhat harried.
A richer immigrant he should have married!

While he said that he had billions he could beckon,
On needing to produce them didn’t reckon.
And now it seems no one will give him bond,
Afraid that in the end they will be conned!

For years the Don has cheated one and all,
Yet managed to avoid a fatal fall.
Gone bankrupt yes, failed lots, but blest
With systems slow, not speed-obsessed.

Now, once again, for Don, the system works.
Slow rolling all the charges, Kafka’s clerks
Postpone the days of reckoning until
The chances to convict him become nil.

So Donald rolls along his crooked way.
Perhaps some court will finally make him pay.
But, if as jailbird, Chief Thief doesn’t sing,
We may have to deal with Donald as our King!

Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is the former deputy inspector general for inspections at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author of “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze.”