Dastardly Poem by Frank Avon

isn't a word we use much any more,
but we should.

Beheading newsmen is dastardly.
Bombing innocent women and children is dastardly.
Shooting first graders in their classroom is dastardly.
Refusing Medicaid to a dying mother is dastardly.
Shooting an unarmed teenager in the middle of the street,
even in you're the police,
especially if you're the police,
is dastardly, dastardly, dastardly.
Scamming the elderly and stealing their jewels is dastardly.
Abandoning your children to a mother alone is dastardly.
Getting pregnant with children you don't want is dastardly.
Growing rich on the sick is dastardly.
Much of Wall Street is dastardly.
Living on welfare, if you're well, and refusing to work is dastardly.
Making 100 times more than your diligent employees is dastardly.
Robbing the poor to give to the rich is dastardly.
Beating your wife to a pulp on an elevator is dastardly.
Raping a woman and being called an All-American is dastardly.
Shooting a couple's corgi in front of their eyes is dastardly.
Paying for votes and voting for who pays you is dastardly.
Mowing down rain forests for profit is dastardly.
Befouling our water and air is dastardly.
Making the mentally ill beg on the streets is dastardly.
Filling our prisons for minor infractions is dastardly.
Driving drunk is dastardly.


Boring your readers with lists that are too long could be dastardly.
You get what I mean!

Bespoiling the earth
Making others suffer
Causing the loss of life
Besmirching anyone's name
including your own -
all of these are dastardly.

But singing off-key ISN'T.
Chewing gum in the movies ISN'T.
Wearing dreadlocks ISN'T.
Missing the bus ISN'T.

DASTARDLY is a word
you may never have heard.
USE IT
often and sagely,
calmly and courageously.

To lie and deceive
can be dastardly.
To say what you believe
usually isn't.

Be friendly,
be gentlemanly,
be brotherly,
be lovely,
be timely,
be kindly,
be motherly or fatherly,
be neighborly, be godly.

but be thou not DASTARDLY.



a dictionary definition: dastardly = characterized by underhandedness or treachery, hatefulness or villainy.