Quality of Life

We weren’t meant to live like we’re living.

We weren’t meant to lie and to Tweet.

We needn’t alter our psyches

With drugs that we buy on the street.

Why do we shoot little children

And folks who were just in the way

And fell at the hands of a madman

When bullets began to spray?

Where are the sensible people

Who can put politics aside

Enact laws to stem the violence

By which we must all abide?

Our culture has passed its summit

It’s careening down the slope

Of rapid degradation.

I feel there’s little hope

If people are shamed for their color,

Not valued for what is within.

We need to write a new chapter

But where can we begin.

When some preachers say that hatred

Has become the Way

And QAnon has its believers

Who let it control their day.

When fear is a dominant factor

At every level of life.

That angst is a great motivator

And sets us up for strife.  

How can a rational person

Live in a crumbling world

Without feeling disillusioned   

As they are growing old?

Each day I feel the heartache  

Of stark reality

I face the facts and marvel

At such insanity

How can I deal with hurt inside

My stomach’s in a knot.

I now must face the falsehoods 

That I had long been taught.

I cannot die a peaceful death

While hungry children cry.

I will pass still wondering

And weeping asking, “Why?”

Sally Currie