Where Have All the Good Men Gone?

Her rant expired, her venting done,
my friend asked the ancient question.
“Where have all the good men gone?
You got the last one!”  she cried.

Her heart was broken
and surely she deserved my sympathy.
But she’d said it all before,
and so I heard myself speak.

“You just dumped one.”
Unable to believe I’d spoken,
I now must go on.
“The good men are cast aside
by good women not yet grown;
girls who cannot see
the man in the boy.
Do you think a good man is just born?”

Her mouth dropped
at my words.
“What?”
“You heard me.
A good man is made, my friend.
Caressed gently,
given softening kisses,
held by an understanding heart,
watched with patience
and a lot of grace,
boys grow into good men,
in the hands of a good woman.”

“Are you a good woman?”

The next day I saw her with a friend,
wiping tears from her eyes,
and I heard her cry
“Where have all the good men gone?”