A Bitter Age

Look around!

We stopped our warm and gentle grace,

And pointed fingers in each face.

Cold ambition took the night,

While poisoned streets consumed the light.

***

A bitter sickness filled the air,

And turned all kindness into fear.

Compassion slowly came to drown,

As hatred spread from town to town.

***

Honor became a thing for trade,

Like shattered dust that boots degrade.

For loud applause and party cries,

Men sold their truth and wore disguise.

***

Thought itself became a crime,

And insults ruled through all the time.

From morning’s wound till midnight’s flame,

Cruel voices called it all a game.

***

Each dawn began with sharpened knives,

Each night counted the wounded lives.

Debate collapsed in rage and pride,

While mercy trembled there outside.

***

Look at them!

The blinded crowds raised banners high,

And searched for faults where good deeds lie.

The more sincere a person stood,

The more they tore apart the good.

***

Decency became a shame,

And grace was mocked in hatred’s name.

Each honest word was dragged through chains,

Each noble act was stained with blame.

***

What shame survives within the soul

When hatred stands in full control?

What kind of age finds joy in pain,

And cheers while others drown in shame?

***

Hatred became a thriving trade,

Where wounds were sold and fears were made.

All carried arrows, none brought light,

And truth stood bleeding through the night.

***

Its voice grew faint beneath the cries

Of wrath disguised as noble lies.

The world forgot the art to hear,

And learned instead to worship fear.

***

Yet through the smoke and raging flame,

Compassion softly still remains.

Though bruised and buried under noise,

It whispers still through broken voids.

***

A quiet pulse beneath despair,

A final breath still living there.

And while this bitter age may fall,

Compassion waits beyond it all.