Reality

Up to interpretation

Can you keep up this masquerade?

Why don’t you give up this big charade?

You can only dig so deep with that overused spade

Until the difference between what’s real and what’s not begins to fade

 

Is it really worth it, this big façade?

Don’t you think that it’s rather odd

That this pitiful act would be necessary, if there truly is a God?

But, for such an entertaining show as this, I can give you nothing but laud.

 

How is it that you trick reality

With such synthetic congeniality?

It brings me to swiftly question your sense of morality

And to wonder if this, like everything else, is truly actuality.

 

Frightfully well-crafted is your dubious mask

I can’t help but admire how well you perform your arduous task

Of fooling the world with such smoke and mirrors.

Is it any wonder that you have no peers?

 

Reality. Reality. What a subjective term.

Its walls are fragile and brittle and nowhere close to firm

It’s easily obscured and effortlessly changed

Yet so indefatigable that it still may seem unchanged

But what if I were to tell you

That what we call reality

Can be perceived doubly

With more than one thing being true?

 

Dear reader, I ask you to look in the mirror

What is it that you see, as you intently peer

At the reflection of a being

That in endless ways could be seen?

 

Do you see a man or do you see a monster?

Is it easily understood or hard to construe?

The image may be beautiful, or it may be ugly

Upon it a definition may be impossible to ascribe, or one may fit snugly

 

But what makes the monster and what makes the man?

If anyone can answer that question, you certainly can

For it’s you, dear reader, who allocate meaning

And to give you less power would be utterly demeaning

 

Then continue your act

It seems that here what’s necessary’s tact

Reality will beckon

But it’s us with whom it must reckon

And the power that we possess, which lies within our labyrinthine mind

Just may be the greatest capacity of our kind

Author's Note

Your analyses, criticisms and opinions are not only welcomed but encouraged.

Reviews

[writingandthings]

I interpret this poem as a cry against the world for trying to fool us into thinking a certain way for their benefit. People will try to shift others view on reality so they can achieve what they want. But really, what matters is your own take on reality. What you feel and what you understand as true for in the end that is what matters the most.

[SoundOfThought]

A very interesting and refreshing interpretation. Although not exactly my intent, I can definitely see it as a "cry against the world". And, your interpretation further proves the point of the poem, as well as poetry in general, really, that we all see different things and allocate meaning differently. Everyone's reality is different. Thank you very much for your review and your new aspect!

[Purvesh Khamankar]

The first poem I read that gives more credit to the reader that the poet. A hint of dual reality I suppose.

[SoundOfThought]

Yep, I wanted to single out and give credit to the reader to drive home the point that the reader, the individual, is what ultimately gives meaning to things, especially in the case of poetry, by contributing their own perception, their own reality. Thank you very much for your review!

[Purvesh Khamankar]

You are heartily welcome