How shallow lies
the depravity....
....the obscenity ....
beneath the obscurity
That veiled visage of such audacity
then how quickly
It all falls away
As I have stood
Astonished
Admonished ... By my naivete
Seeing... As it all crumbles
Tumbles away ... with all my faith
the humanity of my being
Like dominoes...down the timeline
of what once was me!

Scattered now
Stomped on and shattered
Battered
Bruised and tattered
Everything that once mattered
Had now vanished
Banished and leaving great voids
Of emptiness
Monuments to those lessons learned
That now awaits...the fates
To fill back in ...if or when
We begin ....to value what was earned

Those precious gifts...
....that so many
have paid..... so much for !!