Those people that dole out mercy
like it is going out of style
fail to remember those times in their lives
when every strand of every possible future
depended on a single person’s decision.
While those of us who have tasted
of mercy’s sweet lips
may come to expect it across too many fields of our lives,
what happens far more often 
is people learn instead to ration it
like strawberry ice cream on a too-hot summer day.
But no one ever appreciates
something they deny others,
and no one ever learns to hope for
something others have denied them.
So in this infernal summer
we find ourselves sweating through,
practice generosity if discretion does not suit you,
because mercy sounds so much better than might.