Change Directions Poem by Curtis Johnson

Change Directions
By Curtis Johnson

We think that it’s a weeping pity and a crying shame for things to be this or that way.
We blame teachers, parents, preachers, politicians, and presidents for things going astray.

We claim we knew it could happen, but not in our neighborhood; not this type of crime.
We say, “I suspect that I always thought that it would happen, but not in my life time”.

Do we never learn the times and the seasons, or do we forget about the rhymes and the reasons?
Never suppose that ‘we are gods’, nor think that ‘appeals to heaven’ is an act of human treason.

Things and people and places always change; some for the better; others for the worse.
We learn to speak our minds, and sometimes, until we blow our tops like balloons that burst.

We sleep through wind storms and heavy rains, but sooner or later we all must awake.
In hot weather we bake; strong dams sometime break; and strange places sometime quake.

Sometimes, whatever it is that we so deeply disdain, is something for which we are to blame.
Could it be both we and they who need to change, if this world’s to cease from raising Cain?

May we be bold enough to raise the question, even if we’ve been trained to never question.
If we truly dislike our present location, let us care and dare enough to change directions.
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