Poetry

Monday 29 May 2023

Truth 2

 It was hidden behind a facade 

It was the tree lost in the wood of lies

I was blind to it, didn't want to hear it

Even closed my ears and eyes

I didn't want to even understand

So I stuck my head in the sand

 

But it was ferreted out, it was winkled out

And prized apart like an oyster to reveal its pearl

It was weighed in the hand, on the scales of justice

It has been weighed against the purest gold in the world

And found to be of perfect carat, 

It is better than the finest wine of the best clarit


It has the clarity of a diamond

It shines a light, but not through a prism,

It is harder than the hardest criminal in the toughest prison

It does not dance like an ephemeral rainbow

When it stands, it stands tall, casts a long shadow

And people run from it in fear, other's hide in its shade

Still some would give their dying tear, for a drop of it to be made

  

It is hard to pin down, like a pin ball

weighs heavy as a crown, when it from the King's head it falls

It changes shape like a wraith, or a ghost coming through a wall

But in reality it never changes, like time itself or nothing at all


It is fact incarnate, it is the living flesh of an idea of man

But then women know it, as too a child can

It requires, like the pearl, grit to make it stick

Courage to tell it, the skill to make it disappear as if a magic trick

But like a weight-lifter's load, it is a relief to get it off your chest

It is the long and lonely road, where your belief in it is put to the test


And often involves fits of tears, and smeared make-up and tissues

In hospital waiting rooms, or beside beds

It is easy to fake it, vanity imitates it, but then the mirror breaks

The axe falls, and it is reflected in the splinters, a hologram, a whole

As the narcissus must crawl back inside his hole


It is pure, it is the most valuable treasure we own

Yet it cannot truly be sold

Because when this is tried it disappears

Below the fold

And isn't seen for days

It is on the run

Like a snow abll rolling down a hill

In the end creates an avalanche

Then all the dominoes fall in its wake

Like match stick trees after a volcanic blast


To others it is a tradable commodity

Because someone will pay top dollar for it

But when they have it, they only wish to hide it again

And cover ups are cheaper when they are smoked

With a pack of lies


It is like a ticking bomb then, liable to explode

In their hands

Or like a burning match it will burn the fingers

Of the one holding it, yes, it is sometimes fire

And sometimes ice, because they die with it.

They take it to their graves.

And then the trail runs cold, 

But if we let ourselves sell it so cheaply

We sell with it our souls.


It comes out in the wash

With the dirty linen

It is the skeleton in the closet

To be discovered by the bin men

It is told in halves, in pieces of a puzzle

It is hinted at by clues or by fingerprints on a muzzle

It sometimes can seem dark, though often loud as a dog's bark

And like a dog with bone at play, it too must have its day

 

It is free to everyone whether a king or a slave,

Yet it can cost the earth, or it can cost a close shave,

It can slip from your hands when you don't watch it

You must keep your eye on the ball, you must be brave

It is the writing on the wall, it is the writing on your grave

Most of all if you speak it then a life you might save

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