OF TRUTH by Robert Service

[teri tait]

Here's a good poem about honesty:

OF TRUTH by Robert Service

I told a truth, a tragic truth
That tore the sullen sky;
A million shuddered at my sooth
And anarchist was I.
Red righteousness was in my word
To winnow evil chaff;
Yet while I swung crusading sword
I heard the devil laugh.

I framed a lie, a rainbow lie
To glorify a thought;
And none was so surprised as I
When fast as fire it caught.
Like honey people lapped my lie
And peddled it abroad,
Till in a lift of sunny sky
I saw the smile of God.

If falsehood may be best, I thought,
To hell with verity;
Dark truth may be a cancer spot
'Twere better not to see.
Aye, let a lie be big and bold
Yet ripe with hope and ruth,
Beshrew me! but its heart may hold
More virtue than the truth

[Lonewulf]

Nice poem, but I entirely disagree with it's message.

"But such is the irresistable nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants is the liberty of appearing." -- Thomas Paine.

I agree very much with Emily Dickinson, though. She said: Tell the truth, but tell it slant.

I'd say more of, there's such thing as a hard truth and a soft truth. It's all in how you tell it.

[teri tait]

I entirely love the message and I love the poem :)