-- Our False Truths --

John Herlihy

We dislike some things, others not at all;

There is one thing we dislike most of all.

Certain truths strike as a resounding bell;

The one thing never to hear, truth will tell.

Let me put these words as plain as can be,

So as to understand what we need to see.

There are certain truths we surely dislike,

Truths that when listened to feel as a strike.

We like to think some things never change;

We think elements of destiny to rearrange.

But change always comes until we realize,

Nothing stays the same, a truth we despise.

We like to pretend that we will live forever,

That the days will go on and will end never.

We know the plain truth, our lives terminal,

While our death remains totally subliminal.

What sublime mystery my enduring love;

We call it perfect if push comes to shove.

What of a chink in the armor of my belief?

If love is selfish, it brings little to no relief.

You claim a fidelity until your dying days;

Yet you do little to change your bad ways.

Faith no companion to a truth made false,

A loving dance turned into a solitary waltz.

What about the myth we know what to do,

An accepted truth that is false, as birds flew.

Often indecisive, unsure, can’t make a decision,

Yet we say that we know with exact precision.

Forget not the truth of the broken promise;

Our claims sometimes seem short of honest.

We may say one thing, then do quite another;

This truth falls behind like a long, lost brother.

Then there is the lie masquerading as a truth;

A sunny smile of falsehood has a loose tooth.

We may insist upon the truth of all that we say;

Yet our falsehoods have truth run the other way.

I don’t like loose ends, therein a truth is found;

Neither do I like being tied in knots all around.

Something need be said for seeing things clear;

Truth need be what it is, then held most dear.

Beware any truth that may fill us up with hate,

Any truth that betrays us like a faithless mate.

We think we always idolize truth, up high to hold;

Yet some of our false truths should never be told.

We think that our false truths might set us free;

We know they are false, but we just let them be.

Far easier to our multiple falsehoods be a slave,

Than the effort to cling to all the truths that save.

After falsehood, what is it that truth can deliver?

After truth, a wealth of lies will make us shiver.

The future of truth lies in the destruction of lies;

Kill all the falsehoods, then untruth simply dies.

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(c) John Herlihy 15 May 2020