And they've been used to profit

Rembrandt's Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple (1626)
(Part II, "They Say it is the Second Coming" (c) Gregory Borse 2007-2008)

II

In the market they complain
There's noone left to buy their wares:
And they've been used to profit.

From gold, silver, jewels, and pearls,
From purple linen and from silk,
From scarlet, sandalwood, and ivory,
From marble, iron and from bronze.

From cinnamon and from spices,
From ointment, incense, and from myrrh.

I'll keep my money against the cold
And wait for winter to take its hold.
And when I make again the street,
I'll hear them calling, men to mete:

Wine! Oil! Flour! Wheat! We can sell you things to eat!  
We have Cattle! We have Sheep! We have Goats! And Chariots!

I'll check the coins still in my pocket
And wonder at their bitter cry:

We have bodies and souls of men to buy. . .

[see post labeled "Let us go and make our visit" for part I]