The Lexicon of Shame

Someone told me 
to talk with some shame.
I didn't know that language.

So I went to my teacher
and asked what it was.
He said, it was something 
I wouldn't understand;
he advised that I learn 
better English.

I went to the preacher
and asked if he could teach.
He said "shame" was when 
we asked from God,
yet in the donation boxes
wouldn't deposit.

I asked the political leaders.
They said it was the feeling 
they would get
when the public could see through
their stories.

I asked the police.
They told me it was the thing they felt
when someone would make 
YouTube videos of them 
collecting the protection fees.

I asked the poet.
She said it was the deplorable, 
devastating emotion
that she felt 
when her book failed to sell well.

I asked the poor man 
camping on the street.
He said it was how he felt:
when his children went hungry.