(my sincere apologies to Longfellow)

And Larry said to his friend,
If the Plats march by land or air to the town tonite,
Hang a latern aloft in the belfry arch
of the North Houston tower as a signal light.
One if land, two if by $203 transcon,
And I on the opposite runway shall be,
Ready to fly and spread the alarm,
To every Continental city and town,
For the CO bean counters to be up and to arm.

And mostly he watched with eager search,
The belfry tower of the old Houston Church,
And lo, as he looks upon the belfry height,
First a glimmer, and then a gleam of light,
He sprang to 1A in his new ERJ,
He orders a scotch, and to the window he turns,
And he lingers and gazes til full in his sight,
A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A roar of an engine above the village street,
A shape in the midnight, a bulk in the dark,
Larry warns, the Plats are coming, the Plats are coming.

Like vicious vultures, chewing on a bone,
The Plats were approaching to draw more blood from a stone.
You know the rest from the posts you have read,
That its hard to draw blood from a $69 oil price dread,
But, lo they tried, as not to leave empty handed,
To get a token freebee, was the reason they banded.