I am a place that carnivores love, Though eat at me too often and the oil might send you above. A depression was afoot when a colonel got an idea for me, And later created my first branch in Utah though he started in Kentucky

A command when at war, a livelihood's end, a warning at home, a blacksmith's true friend It rules above clouds, it seethes beneath crust A terrible foe who, in shadows, we trust

Once upon is how I start, A tale as old, I do my part. There were lords of me, from ages past, But like all things, I do not last.

Formerly left, and nothing more, But time’s long tongue made ill my core. My opposite, who too, was nothing grand, Now lends itself humbly to a helping hand.

In the past I was ten to the power of four, but now I can be less or I can be more. Some people would say that as a noun I'm improper, but noun before adjective, in that form I first prospered.