Real Heroes?

Another sad ending to the same old story

where real heroes go unrecognized.

Who, having weathered the stormborn futility

of pulling away from the kiss of affluence,

are diminished to obscurity without fanfare,

forgotten in a stick figured world.

So, everyman is too often lured into the selfishness

of convenience and plenty, however obtained.

Confused by the brisk winds of materialism

innovation is let in then left out, quickly dismissed.

Original thinking extinguished by ambition,

not quite lost but nonetheless not really found .

Tendrils of everyday temptation wave ominously

in the poor lighting of everyday humdrum events.

Inadequate glow of pretend stars and paper moons

make it easy for sincerity to go unnoticed,

while beaten dogs of conscience go hungry

when substance is ethereal and enigmatic.

Survivors of faded integrity huddle

under weather worn antennas, uselessly,

listening for an integrity that has gone mute

in tattered cape like unreal hooded ponchos

while the cold rain of endemic greed wets indiscriminately,

real heroes grimly wait for salvation.