Tell Me a Pretty Lie

Written in February, 2005. A poem about refusing to see the truth.

 He’s been searching the streets for days.

Asking “Has anyone seen my little girl?”

He’d seen things to scar the sole and made him afraid,

Afraid of what he’d find, but he finally found his way to her.

 

When he approached her

He brought with him an air of disdain.

Hatred for who and what she was,

And fear for why he was there.

 

Surely my daughter isn’t here.

Surely this w***e won’t know where she is.

He repeated to himself in a silent mantra.

Yet still he came and asked anyway.

 

“Tell me old man,” the w***e asks,

“You ask me where your little girl is,

Yet you’ve convinced yourself she isn’t here.

So why do you ask at all?”

 

“You’re right, my daughter isn’t here,

She would never stoop so low

As to degrade herself as a w***e.

But you may still know where she is.”

 

Standing the w***e began to circle the man.

“And tell me old man,

What is so degrading about me?

About being a w***e?”

 

“You sell your body to anybody willing.

You have no standards and no morals to speak of.

You’re the lowest of us all.

A disgrace to everyone.”

 

“But I’m no different from you, or anyone else.

While the world w****s itself

For love and approval,

I w***e myself for a home and food.”

 

“The world” she continued,

“changes,w****s its souls.

Changing what they are for

The approval and acceptance of others.”

 

“So tell me old man,

Who is more pathetic, more of a disgrace?

Those who sell their bodies?

Or those who sell souls?

 

Paling slightly and shaking his head

The man said “No. No we at least have pride and honor.

Which you have none of.”

He said lacking conviction.

 

“What do you know of honor and pride?”

The w***e challenged advancing upon the man.

“What is honorable about giving up?

About being a coward?”

 

“For that’s all the lot of you are!

Instead of fighting and struggling,

You give up and lock yourself away.

Committing a gradual suicide of the soul.”

 

“What is there of pride

In sacrificing everything you are

But never seeing the fruits of your labor?

Never receiving the love and acceptance you crave?”

 

“I may sell my body.

Men can touch and do with it what they want.

But they can never touch me.”

The w***e hissed into the man’s face.

 

“And at the end of the day

I come home still whole,

And with a pocket full of cash.

Tell me old man, can you say as much?”

 

The man now weak and close to tears

Began shaking and hugged himself.

“Please. Please just tell me where my daughter is.

Please.” He whispered.

 

The w***e sank into a rotting couch and

Looked at the man appraisingly.

“Tell me old man, do you want the truth?

Or do you want a pretty lie?

 

The man began to cry

But managed to choke out a response.

“A lie. Please tell me a pretty lie.

I don’t think I could handle the truth.”

 

“Then your daughter is dead.”

Reviews

[Robert Luna]

Mmmm. People would like to live in an imaginary world of all happy endings and sugar plum. But the fact remains the ugliness exist and is more real than the world of reality TV that people like to allow themselves to be consumed with. I love the ugliness and the filth of its rasp on life. It is able slide through the cracks and make itself known to any person any where. There is no safe place from it and no way to escape it. You must accept it is a part of the world and we can not have good without evil.

Great Job!!!!!!!

[Tenten]

ummmm....wow....mind blowing magnificent piece of work, this is skill and beauty. the imagery the meaning it transcends my conscious mind. one of the best works i have had the privilege of reading on this site. this an amazing work, you capture that pretty lie and you make it real. this stole me away from reality. i'm adding this to my favorites.

[*~Imperfectly Me~*]

wow... this is a very powerful poem! You bring to light a big issue... the issue that in our society people do sell their souls and such... This is very powerful, If only people would be able to open their eyes and accept who others are... If only the father or mother would accept their child.... Great Job!!! Going into my favorites!

[[untitled]]

This is good. The words were very powerful. So many times people don't want to know the truth about their children. I really liked this.

[Emily B]

Tell me a pretty lie. Powerful words. Each and every one of them. It's very difficult to make a conversation work but this one is exceptional.

[Sarah]

Oh my, that was amazing. I loved the dialogue & the message... especially the last line, that was great. Definitely something different, good job. (:

[Winter McPherson]

The thought behind this is so very deep and has been a contemplation of my own for years, how we w***e ourselves out - in work, in what you say here "acceptance", we sell ourselves to the highest bidder, yet look our nose down on those who sell their bodies. Very powerful and insightful. It left me wondering...