The Whole Truth

I tried to write a story

Where nobody lied.

With dogged tenacity,

They failed every time.

Something in their character?

Whole truths were halved,

Half-truths quartered in shadows,

Filtered by white lies.

We had pride in scant success.

Then history turned

Hard truths into quicksand lies,

Swallowing them whole.

Piercing truths found out too late.

They said God is truth.

Sword and nails for his Son,

Gave us fair warning .

Policies of honesty

Were always the best.

Until fuses were lit on

Combustible facts.

Troublesome truths at midnight,

Gremlins in your skull.

Dancing down the levels of

Dante’s Interno.

Are lies the root of pain, with

Bouquets of anguish?

Yank out weeds of suffering,

Find the gnarled truth.

Maybe all that we can do,

Is write our own truths.

But they go down easier,

When they’re wrapped in lies.