A friend of mine once asked of me,
my thoughts on how the world might be,
without the TV and the press,
who daily gossip at the mess
we make.

I said I thought a different place
if we were never made to face,
what harm we serve this paradise,
that comes at far too high a price
to pay.

He shrugged, then made to disagree,
just words he said, are all I see;
soundbites adding to the score,
for profit gained and nothing more
than circulation.

But much is told came my reply,
we see the instant bullet fly,
then watch the image on the screen,
and listen to the soundless scream
of dying dreams.

Then in reflection, in his eye,
I saw him hear the children cry;
the pistol crack at sullen dawn,
when all of dignity is shorn
and took away.

And as the evening slowly fell
toward the toll of midnight bell,
there came accord, if most unsaid,
of how perilous a path we tread
to blind indifference.

For what good the truth without a face,
the sin concealed without a trace.
What point the shroud of disregard,
and a world shown perfect and unscarred -
by one side of the coin.