A PERSONAL HABIT

    That brilliant paradox
        on Keats' Urn would seem
            the pinnacle of art. 
    But truth is rarely beautiful
        I've learned
    and beauty's seldom truthful,
        ask my heart.
    In some way
        every simile is true,
    Yet faced with truth
        we mostly ask for lies.
        While often pretty things
            please me and you,
    An ugly image
        can be fresh and wise:
     
    I get a metaphor.
    I pick at it for days.
    Perhaps it rose up
        from within-- a mental boil,
        or maybe something bit me in my sleep,
        or scarred my soul's thin skin.
    And when I pull it free,
        oh, such delight,
        Relief as well,
    "that's one less poem to write."

Reviews

[FocusedAmnesia]

"But truth is rarely beautiful
I've learned
and beauty's seldom truthful"
- I love this! Nice read.