No Trace of Grace

"G" is for . . . Good Manners,
which (ungloriously) may be all but gone!
Manners seem to have flown away and gone awry,
and courtesy is on hiatus.
Who’s to blame?

"Idealism is what precedes experience;
cynicism is what follows."
-- David T. Wolf

“Intelligence and courtesy not always are combined;
Often in a wooden house a golden room we find.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
American Author
(1807 - 1882)

No Trace of Grace
(A Limericked Twist on Class Dismissed)

Eagerly, we fill our planners,
Waving still our angry banners.
We forget
Etiquette;
What has happened to our manners?

At the table, in the store,
On the freeway – hear us roar.
Rushed? You bet.
Ruder yet.
Each of us becomes a boor.

Courtesy has disappeared.
Kindness flew, as many jeered.
Witty quips
And bolder blips
Flaunt what our forefathers feared.

Still, we scramble to impress
When we ought to bow, confess.
Class-less clowns,
Earning frowns,
For our manners are a mess.

c2008 by Linda Ann Nickerson

Posted for a variety of prompts:
ABC Wednesday (“G Is For . . . “)
Heads or Tails (“List 3 Things in Any Category”)
…In Other Words… (Quote – below)
Meme Express (“courtesy counts”)
Three Word Wednesday (“awry,” “blame” and “hiatus”)