The Profit of Nothing.

The Profit of Nothing

   The profit of nothing
   is less than you had
   before you gave away
   what you didn't deserve anyway.
   The profit of nothing
   is more than you got back
   from the bank after the interest
   in futures was past.
   The profit of nothing
   is always something,
   but not quite what it was
   before it became what it is.
   The profit of nothing's
   not easily measured:
   statistics don't do it justice,
   it simply requires an act of faith.
   The profit of nothing
   is outside the economy
   of value exchange.
   Its very exteriority guarantees its return
   to that place it's not yet been.
   The profit of nothing's
   a concept not easily grasped.
   In order to do so you have to
   let go of it first.
   The profit of nothing
   is an investment for some;
   for others its sum is the total
   of bankruptcy and ruin.
   Its relative value depends
   on the moon and how much
   you take heed of her
   waxing and warning.
   The profit of nothing
   is best illustrated by diagrams
   on paper that's blank.
   To read them you need to
   decipher the secret of something
   in its relation to everything other than
   that which is a-priori to,
   and/or a-posteriori of itself,
   notwithstanding, furthermore
   that which is this, that and the other
   (or not), and that's quite a lot!

Aryan Kaganof (South Africa)