Hypocrisy

Satan in a Sunday dress

Rumors! Gossip! What a mess!

She goes running here and there

Spreading babble everywhere.

First she goes on line you see,

Finding things of you and me,

How old we are, where we have lived,

She knows if we pay our bills.

Marriage records she has got,

Divorces too, like it or not,

Emails addressed in our names

Proclaim her snooping never wanes.

Then she goes to rumor stores,

Fraternal lodges have the score,

They lay it on so thick and fine,

Telling all they “know” each time.

If by chance there’s no smear word,

No prittle prattle they have heard,

This trip is not a waste of time,

She simply goes inside her mind.

She comes home and spreads her news,

No discretion does she use,

There is no judgment in her tales

That make the rounds, it never fails.

Sitting in her favorite pew

Assails God’s nostrils, He says, “Phew!

That little church, How can I bless it?”

The pastor there has surely missed it.

Because he gave her such free rein

She became the pastor’s bane

So sad when this enlightened brother

His dying church gave to another.

Although she thinks her “Star” shines bright

She really fails to see the light

And God who knows each heart and mind

Reveals all secrets in due time.

-Mary Hardy Melton