Why Do We Do It?

Nobody seems to know
Why we do it.
Nobody seems to even ask
Why we do it.
No voice of gentle enquiry,
No bewildered cry from the street,
The sudden shout,
'Why do we do it?'
How strange!
It's as if everybody knows
Precisely why we do it,
And the reason is too obvious to mention,
Or perhaps too vile and shameful to acknowledge,
Or too silly.
Why the silence?
Do we do it because everybody else does it,
Or is it because we are afraid of not doing it?
Why?
Please!
Somebody!
Why do we do it?
—Michael Leunig