If Tadpoles did not change their spots
to join the world of frogs,
if useless debris turns to clots
and jams internal cogs,
if babies stayed the size they are
so cuddly and so sweet,
if Fred the Drunkard left his car
and walked home on his feet,
if Jews stopped hating all the gentiles
and Germans got some humour,
if Wallstreet could forget percentiles
and corporate greed and rumours,
if doctors had the guts to go
back to when lives were prized,
if politicians were to know
their egos, oversized,
if all thy neighbours could be human
and clean their own backyard,
then, in the words of Harry Truman
we would at last be smart.

So if you read this look again,
make sure you'd pick as friend
who on a scale from one to ten,
would be a perfect blend
of all that you consider good,
and God's own wisdom too.
And once you're confident you could
become the real you,
you may relax with your shy grin
and turn the other jowl,
it is not others that do sin,
just ask the wise old owl.

If you regard yourself above
the rest of all mankind,
if all you are is truth and love
and if the world is blind,
then worry not about the others,
they may become your fans,
perhaps the fault lies with their mothers
who'd go off to the dance
and left their charges to themselves
or to a babysitter,
which keeps away the kindly elves
and glorifies just glitter.
If substance and integrity
are absent in a man
you're left with window dressing, see
and with the 'Also Ran'.
But do beware and do not aim
your finger at your foes,
a weed who feels eternal shame
may yet become a rose.

Herbert Nehrlich

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/virtue-of-selfishness/