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Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time there were Five key words,
We all knew by heart,
What, where, when, why and how,
And they all came out of our mouths wearing question marks.

We didn't just save them for special occasions,
Or make them rhetorical,
No, we expected an informed reply,
So, we could produce the goods on a regular basis.

We used them to explore and keep our neural pathways in good order.
They were likely included in a babe's first jumbled thoughts,
With why and who the biggest contenders for first and second place.

And when any child could utter their first words these five key words,
Were among the first,
Often precursors to the word Mummy or Daddy,
And when they were older before the word teacher.

For a long time, everybody was happy,
And thoughtful,
As IQ'S  kept getting bigger,
And neural pathways remained healthy.

Suddenly, we don't know why or how,
We lost our faith in these words,
As they started producing dishonest answers,
And other words like greed, corruption, and selfish,
Started holding sway.


It was not long after that, 
The questions stopped,
And the five words that had served us so well,
Were more likely to be seen on the printed page,
Where they could be easily manipulated for other than honest purposes,
Than witnessed coming out of all but the bravest of lips.

If that was not enough for those lamenting their passing,
Many neural pathways began to disappear through lack of use,
And the words but why Daddy or But why Mommy became a fading echo,
To all but those of us old enough to remember,
When, When, What, Where, Why and How kept us honest,
And inflated Our IQ's.

Lest we all forget Hope and Love Still dwell yet in this world,
And a pathway to our hearts, 
Is seldom blocked for good.

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