Where are the heroes?
The men of stout heart
fearless!
willing to
pick up and carry
the mantel of the weak-
unable to fend for self?

Where are the men that know how to love?
bravely and unabashedly?
Those with no need
to lust after any woman
that feeds a fragile ego?

Is the concept of a hero
just a fantasy?
A Disney ideal?
Is the only prince
the one with four legs
you carefully choose from the litter
and carry home so lovingly?

Are the acts we see of heroism
the accidental conduct
of an over-inflated ego
cloaked in self righteousness?
Seen through the lens of rose colored glasses

Why must my faith in heroes
die painfully in the sea of disappointment-
while desperately clinging to the hope that
maybe
just maybe-
this guy is for real?