Pages Of A Woman's Soul

When did courtesy
become weakness
or kindness turn
into having an angle?

When did wanting to
do good become
a decision you
have to mindfully wrangle?

When did our common
decency get
usurped by an
attitude of derision?

When did we learn to
slice each other
apart with such
cool, dark-hearted precision?

When did the world get
so distant and
bleak that we don't
even help our own neighbor?

When did the Golden Rule
get changed into
'my needs come first' -
to be selfless so abhorred?

When did being moral
start to come
with disclaimers on
one's upbringing, race, or creed?

When did making a life
and chasing your
dreams now start to
come with a requisite greed?

When did our hearts get so
jealous and cruel
we imagine
others' disrespect abounds?

When did our charity
become the new
fashion; a bauble
to promulgate all around?

When did homage
to the home we
inhabit get
lost in a loathsome cesspool?

When did caring
for the future of
our children cause
some to be viewed as mere fools?

When did it happen,
this callous face of
humankind I
now can hardly recognize?

When? I don't know
but we all would
do well to hope
God will listen to our cries!

K.Tate Jacoby
Copyright June 8, 2008
(revised November 3, 2009)

WHEN