The Truth Behind

Comparing a truth-filled place with our world of masks.

I sit on a fallen log.
I smell no stinking smog.
a distant barking dog
underscores the blowing leaves.

I contemplate the cyclic order
as mother nature defends her border.
everything has been placed.
everything is interlaced.
life and death have not raced.
each restores the other.

everything is as it seems.
I see natural nature exposed.
what lies beneath is open,
unrepentant, honest truth

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I sit in the dark
in the city park
and hear dogs bark...
a chaotic staccato beat
below a honking horn bleat
of an unattended car alarm.

I contemplate what man has built.
unnatural, hidden, obscured by guilt.
concrete and steel sit on loose silt,
separate from nature.

man and woman arm in arm,
use their clothes to create charm.
will naked truth bring them harm?
will hormonal need to procreate,
false promises and hopes create?

could some petty frustration 
create a situation
to hurt a relation 
and ruin sexual elation
with the person that could,
be the closest, and would,
if only we exposed
what lies beneath?

what lies beneath those smiling faces?
a gut that’s tight, a heart that races?

do we yell at our mate
walking out the door
then wave at a neighbor
to maintain the lore
of serene happiness?

do we don a mask
and deny the task
when someone dares ask
how we feel today?

can we speak the truth
that we’re past our youth?
would it be uncouth 
to say we hate
don’t want the date
and will not debate?

when a lady is flirty
with makeup mask that’s pretty,
does she later feel dirty
when in bed with her husband?

when a worker charges more
and builds something he deplores
does any one implore
why he walks away content?

when we pray out loud 
before a crowd,
are we being proud 
and wearing a pious mask?

when his truck is a monster
and his speakers have a booster
does he think he is a rooster
and good in bed?

In this world of masks
of hidden agendas
of false expectation
of self denial,

nothing is what it seems
mirages are too esteemed
the truth below
we soon will know.