Someday, thought the sign, there will be
More signs like me, who know what they say
And consider what they are saying, even if
They have no control over what their sayings
Might be. About that time, the sign was
Saying that the financial markets that day
Had remained "essentially unchanged."
The sign wondered when change became
Essential. Amplitude, surely, the measurable
Magnitude of change had something to do
With moving to essentially changed, yes?
Or would to be essentially changed require
A transformation of the entire system?
Still, essentially unchanged had to mean
Change so minor as to be irrelevant, but
Since when was any market fluctuation
Irrelevant to the future of the investors
Or of the market? A volatile market
That one day suddenly and unexpectedly
Went from bell to bell essentially unchanged
Would be a notable change, a perhaps
Portentous difference in the tone of things.
It's pretty much what it was at the beginning
Of some arbitrary measure of time is what
The expression means, thought the sign,
But, while mulling the essence of essentially,
The sign failed to notice that it had changed.
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