Optiquaticmetamorphollusion
(SCDB)
No Damn Cradle
Lies damned lies
But every number truth
The head that bears the burden
The mouth that eats the fruit
The knowledge pours inside of me
And eats my soul in two
But you believe your lies, damned lies
And it’s good enough for you
You smile stupid smiles
And think your happy thoughts
Ignoring all the harsh realities
O’er which our forebears fought:
To give us all a better life
To save the poor from pain
To bring around a better time
To save us from the same
But the truth can sometimes hurt
And lies can make us smile
And smiles make our bodies swell
Happy hormones rid the bile.
And maybe just a little bit
Every once in a while
Your lies, damned lies will make a baby smile.
They’ll make more babies, who’ll tell more lies.
Your smiling babies and cloistered lives;
Without the pain of looking outside: to see the world’s poor;
Without the pain of the world’s sins: with no way to be forgiven;
Without the pain of others: who you can just as well ignore.
Far away, they cry out to me
And I can feel their ache.
And inside of me I can’t help but envy
The idiots, preachers, and little Christs
Who repeat their precious fibs enough that they believe them.
After all is said and done, who cares if there’s no fires?
Why can’t it be good enough for me?
Why must I seek reality?
Why seek more than I can perceive?
Maybe I’ll make my own new lie:
Whatever must be must be?
We’ll always try our best?
Or simpler still, “writer’s write”?
While outside the children, cold in the night
die without food in the firelight.
But the future is ours to change;
To make our own happiness
With the help of lies.
My own Bokonon code:
We can stop hunger
We can stop pain
We can stop lying
We can stop dying
Yes we can!
Create a mantra to soothe your daily cries,
but this whole world is lies, damned lies.
ETDB, composed January 2010
