The Moral Must

This poem is about truth, using personification to describe it. The purpose of the poem is to convey the power of truth in my life.

What IS truth?

In this life, truth is owned, a loud tenant,

screaming words in ears...mine lamentable.

truth is not one to leave any remnants, 

standing tall, nose up...egotistical.

truth tells "the lie" to lie down, once was whole, 

in burning pastures...inevitable.  

truth looks me straight in the eye, thus supplant, 

scarily stared down...hawkish tactical. 

In this life, truth stays, specter to challenge, 

cunning in conquests...ever winnable.

truth is manna of the soul, cleansed recant,

that oh so forceful...firm unbendable.

truth cuts quick at rusty trust, wild rant,

even in heartbreak...scraping practical.

truth demands what I'm to see, moral must,

ever and always...set free, magical.

Reviews

[Emerald Seas]

Barbara, beautiful writing as always with depth and glimpses of your heart woven throughout. I find the more I know, the less I know... and life continues to teach me that lesson daily. Life... so simple yet the complexities have us twisted about until we are split open and raw. I read you note below... and we must do it, for ourselves to validate our existence here, to celebrate the gift of living, to honor the privilege of having and expressing emotion for ourselves and for others. You always make me think a little more. Thank you.

[外人 (Gaiji..]

Ok, I haven't understood a lot (I speak English as a foreign language :( ) but from what I did understand I can say: "Amazing, very deep and curious" :)

[allie_arrowz]

beautiful write.
to be honest the real truth of the poem doesn't come out til the last two lines. that's when i start to feel what you're feeling. thanks for sharing!

[marytownsend]

Truth can sometimes be a cruel taskmaster but we have little choice but to follow along. This is beautifully written, the emotions flow through very well.

[BLBrown]

Many thanks.

[Legion]

Ah, but what holds the truth? An excellent piece to ponder upon. I think this is my favorite of your poetic pieces that I have read so far. Kudos.

[Poetic Beauty]

The truth isn't always what we want to hear but it is freeing and it is better than falsehoods that have no meaning.

[Holly Soques]

This is a really bittersweet piece which I fully enjoyed, simply because of the raw honesty I sense. The phrase, "everything and nothing" could not be more true of truth in this life, as you repeat many times throughout this poem... Sad, and altogether as bluntly true as real life actually is, which does make one wonder what the point of all this is?

Because the true irony in this lies in the fact that if we do allow the truth to 'set us free' as it's so often hailed to do, we will fall out of step with the popular social convention of today, and naturally fail to achieve anything significant in this life. Life's a paradox. (Hmm... I may write something on that one day... )

Anyway, good work!