Sounds so Great!

 

 

There are some things

That sound really great

But when they are examined

They are simply fake.

 

Like for example:

Check this following one,

This kind you would expect

To come from a blonde.

 

“When yuh dead

You don’t know

And when yuh know

Yuh done dead!”

 

This sounds so great

And intelligent too

But repeat it again and you’ll find

Only the first part is true.

 

When who knows?

The living or the dead?

Maybe the one reading this poem

Is dead instead.

 

Nobody knows

When they are dead

Unless of course,

They die in bed.

 

At what point does one know

That one is dead?

Apparently at the point

One dies in bed. 

 

Sounds so great

I am telling you

But I challenge anyone

To prove it is true.

 

Like the rusted machine

Clearly not functioning

But jar the official’s response

At the questioning.

 

“It is functional,

It’s just awaiting parts.”

This one really pierced me

Deep in my heart.

 

This official's sense

Had taken leave,

What a lying web we weave

Just to deceive!

 

The machine was idle

And it was so for a while

But he sought to mislead

By using guile.

 

People fell for the ruse

I have no doubt,

After all this was an official

With lots of clout.

 

It's not like he’s dead

He’s just not living,

Just a non-functional corpse

Awaiting burying.

 

It’s like the widower

That never had a wife

Or like an alive person

Who has lost his life.

 

 

 

Sounds so great

Until you think it through

And then you discover

It could never be true.

 

Don't bury him yet

He is not dead!

The fact he is an alive person

Says he is living instead.

 

Politicians have a way

Of talking utter nonsense,

If you are a politician

I mean no offense.

 

The operation was a success

But the patient died,

Just another way of saying

The doctor lied.

 

Don’t blame the doctor

For the patient’s death,

When the procedure he did

Was a great success.

 

Why could it not be

That the procedure failed

But the patient was declared

Hearty and hale?

 

Whatever the outcome

The doc must be praised,

The procedure mightn’t work

But the doc can’t fail.

 

 

Sounds so great!

Doesn’t it?

Lying with great sincerity

Has become a habit.

 

It is consolatory

For those who are blind

But the ones who can see

Are in no such bind.

 

For partisan yard-fowls 

And hen-picked males,

Such nonsensical rhetoric

Can never fail.

For people believe

What people want to believe

From the people

People want to believe.

 

Stewart Russell © April 18, 2024