Disillusionment

Disillusionment
Do you wonder where they have all gone?
Let me tell you.
They have gone in ones,
they have gone in twos,
trickles and dribbles,
a flood unrecognized,
and devastating just the same.
Goals cannot be met,
situations cannot improve,
when the sand beneath is continually eroded away.

Do you want to know why they all turned a separate corner?
Let me show you.
Presenting a united front
more important than ethics or justice.
Cracks in the facade they think hidden,
more obvious than ever.
Pick and choose whose note is honored,
lives discarded, decided - process ignored conveniently.
Some people more disposable then others,
the real question becomes more why the remaining stay.

Do you wonder what drew them to begin with?
Let me remind you.
It was the faces,
it was the hearts.
Furred and feathered,
scaled and skinned.
The young and beginning,
the old and deserving,
the innocent and loving,
and for all those who just needed one more chance.

Do you want to know what is lost?
Let me follow you.
As you walk,
note the absence of names,
the holes left by those offered up.
The casualties number more
than readily apparent,
as terrible as those alone are.
Add to them the unseen.
Morale, unity, compassion and confidence, dedication, pride.

Do you wonder what can be done?
Let me lead you.
There are many who ask
similar questions, privately.
Bare a year's time for me alone
has seen this turn about from the best job I ever had
to one I want only to leave behind.
Look in the faces around you,
tell me you can't see the same in wary, polite gazes.

Do you want to know what has been done?
Let me warn you.
Singular efforts come to nothing,
or worse yet,
turn and bite those who never did true wrong.
Told to lie and smile,
speak words they never agreed to
as though it came directly from their lips.
I see reason, can fathom the other side.
Yet reason I find less and less in tangled justifications offered forth.

Do you wonder where it ends?
Let me know too.
My fear is that it won't,
and the ones who don't see now,
will see clearly too late.
Moves and new walls will mean nothing,
if the foundation is crumbling.
The heart belongs to the wordless,
but the soul rests in the hands that ward it.
I pray those hands loosen from their stranglehold.