This is great Ingrid, questions morals.

Decent men? I am sure they like to think they are decent.

My thoughts;

Stanza 1
I like the confliction of the very first line, An ivory tower is usually something we would associate with somebody who is removed from reality. Or somebody who believes they are better than everyone else. Which ties in nicely with line 2.
Keeping their heart in a jar to me refers to having no real emotion. They have no need for it so it is stored safely in a jar. A deeper meaning could point to a jar being fragile. Therefore they could be potentially shutting themselves away to avoid a broken heart. The last line of this stanza shows them doing something fairly trivial, linked to the 'world afar' they are not seeing the suffering just playing around with an ideological object. Again looking deeper maybe this is a symbol of yearning for love. Re arranging the symbolic image of love.

Stanza 2.
Bowing down to the green is interesting, bowing is seen as a symbol of respect, green is normally linked to envy or envious people. I could suggest maybe they are trying to lull new people into a false sense of who they really are. I would link green in this way, somebody who is new who doesn't know their true character.
Line 2 is quite sad, they are pretending to love somebody, they are doing all the right actions but are they really honest?
They then cover their tracks in line 3 and 4, linking back to being unemotionally attached and everything a show, Again they could be scared of full commitment.

Stanza 3 is very clever,
Here you depict those who can talk the talk and charm anybody. Again we link back to lack of full commitment. I sense they are making the right noises but are not fully involved. There is doubt of their motives with the final line of this stanza, you as the narrator question their motives.

stanza 4
This is quite scathing of society and the men in this poem, They are all in the same club, they enjoy being ruthless and making us mere mortals life a misery. They look down on us from their social circles and high opinions of themselves. To hide in plain daylight suggests that you are hiding from your true self, or at least hiding your true self from others. If we link this back to my thoughts from stanza 1 maybe he is hiding his true thoughts from his peers. (can't mix with the lower classes my boy!!)

Stanza 5
I like the question you ask here, how do they? They do because ignorance is a great sleeping pill. You question wether they are really truly happy. The final two lines link back to the first stanza perfectly. The lonely shell and mask references. Compare the image of beautiful flowers being arranged the vibrance of colours to the dullness of a lonely shell and an empty mask.

1 note, 'Royalty never stoned?' I am not sure Prince Harry could back that up!!

I have just read this again, I am not sure if you are commenting about the behaviour of the so called 'better' class, those who have no regard for the normal folk, or wether you are talking about somebody who you thought was decent but turns out to be a shell of what you thought, who doesn't share his love as much as you had hoped and is just going through the motions.

My final thought goes back to the man trying escape the ratrace who really doesn't like this social circle he has been born into and wants to find true love and true happiness.

I am torn between these 3 potential meanings. Which is testament to your writing ability.

Great poem ingrid,
A great read.

This is a great poem by far. My favorite stanza is the last one, such good questions in asking through out this poem. Great job! ((5))
~Harlea

Awesome write Ingrid
all the money in the world can't buy happiness

The title; 'Decent men'

^^My first impressions were that this poem would be about something like: not enough decent men in the world... that there are too many losers and users.
Then the poem began.

Decent men in ivory towers
watching the world from afar
keeping their heart in a jar
while they arrange flowers

^^ 'towers' - well this brings to mind princesses in towers (don't know why that'd be...) but looking at the deeper meaning behind even those fairytales... I feel like your trying to say that these men are separated from our world, locked away perhaps, unreachable by the average woman. And this would link into the second line. 'Heart in a jar' - to me this sounds as though their hearts are locked away (similar to their own selves - locked in those towers afar). To me, this stanza seems to suggest that decent men are unreachable, unapproachable to us.

bowing down to the green
mimicking true love's face
but always ready to erase
should their moves be seen

^^'mimicking true love's face' -- to me, this seems negative that these 'decent men' are two-faced? 'always ready to erase' - that these 'decent men' are able to forget about all the women they have been with; like it doesn't mean a thing to them. 'should there moves be seen' - implies that if they're caught... cheating perhaps? something else? that they will disappear, because their heart was never in the relationship..

I must alter my original interpretation of the first stanza! After reading this second stanza, I believe that the 'decent men' is a misnomer of sorts (for lack of a better word, right now) for the losers and users that are so common.

whispering words of magic
to gullible souls in dismay
whilst keeping them at bay
endings no doubt tragic

^^'whispering words of magic' - sweet persuasion, seduction... in order just to get what they want, not caring who they hurt. And someone always ends up hurt.

ruthless behavior condoned
when you are on the right side
hiding in plain daylight
royalty never stoned

^^ To me, this seems to imply that their friends boost their egos by cheering them on.. making them seem superior ('royalty')
I love the last line 'royalty never stoned' - it's so very true - in this case, I'd say intimidation is the reason why these 'decent men' aren't stoned.

decent men, dare I ask
how do you sleep so well?
Your hearts but a lonely shell
Your faces an empty mask

^^ I love how you have questioned their morals. It just makes the piece even more powerful. I also like how you have made 'hearts' and 'faces' plurals - like these men they have all these facades for the women they seduce - who knows how many lives he leads.. how many hearts he has broken, how many faces he has hidden behind..?

Overall;
Well done and well said.
These men may think they're decent, but in reality, they are just immature and afraid of commitment. Breaking hearts seems to be just another game to them, which unfortunately we women are the pawns to/of (?).

No one deserves to be treated like this.

Well penned. 5/5

You know I"m not one for long comments so I'm just going to say " Awesome dear lady"
TJ

Love the way you wrote this one, lovely choice of words.

"Decent men in ivory towers
watching the world from afar
keeping their heart in a jar
while they arrange flowers"

- The first stanza was my favorite, you create stunning images in my mind. 5/5

This is a very good poem. I enjoyed reading it. My favorite stanza was the third one

"whispering words of magic
to gullible souls in dismay
whilst keeping them at bay
endings no doubt tragic"

I'm a guy myself, but this is so very true.. So many of us guys will tell a female anything they want to hear to get whatever it is we want, all while keeping their (the guys) feelings at bay.. leaving the females hurt in the end.. but females do the same thing,..

overall great poem. I enjoyed reading it :)

A very powerful write.... I liked the every word of it....
Good Work:)

A very powerful write.... I liked the every word of it....
Good Work:)

Ummmmmmmmm ...Yeah what was i going to say again??..........AWESOME!!!!!!

Decent men, dare I ask
how do you sleep so well?
Your hearts but a lonely shell
Your faces an empty mask

^^
The end of this is what got me. Such powerful words, not once forced. Incredible. 5/5

I liked this poem Ingrid. Everything you write is always very worthy of being read, and this poem is no exception!
A very powerful write. You are truly incredible with words! A great poet!

This is more than awesome, very profound in meaning. You obviously used the best of words to deliver your thoughts beautifully. I read this about 3 times to digest it all you. This is how I interpreted it to my own comprehension.

1st Stanza;
I see men planning their dreams coyly from afar, carefully planning their purpose in life as they organize their objectives to lure people into deception.

2nd Stanza;
They go with the flow when life throws any course of concern. Hence, retracing their steps to further adapt to the situation at hand, incase they're been figured out of their mischief plans.

3rd Stanza;
Treating people with selfish and insatiable motive is their penchance, when they're in despair or not. With that they'll achieve there aims.

4th Stanza;
They accept any sort of negative attitudes from people, they hide their pains from the outer world. The moral facade they exhibit is a respect all associate with. Further using that as a bait to devise their ill ways.

5th Stanza;
Life to them smoothly flows without any bumps or whatsoever. What remains as a puzzle to others is how they move on without any iota of pangs within them because they don't attach emotions to people. They live to use people to perpetrate their dire intentions. Nothing good comes out of them, they're a fake consignment..

Overall, I believe they live a deceitful course in their reason for existence, thus hiding their real identities. Which makes them the 'decent men' they are, deprived of emulation and showcasing treacherous ways.
A lovely message and portayed in a teriffic way.
Welldone!

Hi Ingrid
I love the rhyme structure of this one - you don't see it very often. An excellent piece with a great message.
All the very best and take care,
Ben