Set In Stone

We carve our ideals
deep into legalese stones,
make those fixed standards of right
our foundation for behavior.

Only they never control
the power of desire and need,
merely lead to conflicts
between the conscience and survival.

Like when a starving man
steals a loaf of bread,
it is a crime, but different
from when someone robs a bank.

Or there is the case of war,
because to kill a person on a city street
is murder and can bring punishment,
yet join the military
enter another country where you shoot an enemy
and you might end up with a medal.

So morals are more like a stream
they flow through the mind
leave us refreshed with their models
of how we should treat each other,
still that stream often dries
in the application of real life
where the choices of a day
dominate what our hands must do.