The Paperwork Shuffle

Our lives are just filing cabinets
and inside lies the paperwork which
makes us who we are.

The folder is empty at our birth,
full when we pay taxes and work, then
burned when we die, the ashes scattered
far!

We are comprised of numbers and figures;
some of us add up and the rest
don't count at all!

Those who have their paperwork all
in order gain fortune and fame. Those
who don't wander about in poverty and
shame, waiting to fall!

Everything depends upon documents
these days! If I don't have my birth
certificate with me, does it mean that
I was never born? 

If I don't have any educational diplomas 
hanging on my wall, does it mean that I'm 
ignorant by popular conviction? That my 
mind is worn?

Well, if this is the way it's going to
be, I'm glad I've written down this poem
for all to see.  If you hadn't read this, 
you might have never believed! 

I guess no one has faith or trust anymore 
because they have to be convinced beyond 
a shadow of a doubt before anything can 
truly be!