Raw Temperament

• Tara Wise, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2014

Why is it so-
that we have grown
accustomed to selfish fulfilment.

That the norm is now,
ourselves before others,
and good deeds warrant only suspicion.

I crave for a world,
where we're equal by choice,
a deed is as simple,
as speaking for one with no voice.

Is it too much to ask,
for strangers to smile in the street?
For the healthy to help the sick,
to stop texting when there’s people to meet.

It makes me sick to think,
that we place ourselves on a throne,
our empathy has disappeared,
leaving nothing but skin and bone.