Adaptability

The atrocities of man.
Poverty, starvation, war.
Rape, prostitution, slavery.
Nanking, Mahmudiyah, Treblinka.
Mengele, England, Milošević.

The man of rash heart
Rushes to anger,
Races to speak,
Makes visible.
A hero. A symbol. A leader.

What of
The man of rational heart?
Studies and scrutinized,
Plans and works.
A cog. An oddity. A robot.

The heart speaks,
But only the man hears.
The world only sees
Action of the flesh,
Not rending of the heart.

Overtness does not bespeak
A man of sincerity.
Stoicism does not connote
A man bereft of feeling.
The outside does not tell all.

For every boisterous man,
There are hundreds more in quiet.
For every eminent act,
Thousands more are unseen:
Donations, adoptions, and necessary work.

Longing to be dramatic,
Swooping and saving the day.
Most instead make smaller,
Quieter differences daily.
Frustrated and content.