True Lies

 

 

It was true it was a lie

When I said I told the truth,

But it was not true when I told you

I took it from the booth.

 

It was the truth I told a lie

When I said that I had lied,

Now the lie is out in the open

I no longer have to hide.

 

He said he was not there

When in fact he truly was

Instantly, as was expected,

There was quite a buzz.

 

 

It was true he was lying

If you see what I mean,

He could be charged with perjury

If it were a courtroom scene.

 

I have never told the truth

Except for this one time,

Base on my confession

I would be one of a kind.

 

If the only time I told the truth

Was to admit I lied,

A compulsive liar I would be

And that I couldn’t deny.

 

When he lied it was true

Though no one could detect,

His face and words did not agree

And his word they did reject.

 

Lies are mistaken for truth

Truth is mistaken for lies,

Sometimes they are one and the same

As the first line testifies.

 

It is true that he lied

Combines both lie and truth

And when properly examined

Is in itself its proof.

 

True lies I want to call this

As in the Bible the lies are true,

The narratives of people lying

Are as true as me or you.

 

You would recall two in the Bible

Gave a certain impression,

And while in fact they sold the land

There was some digression.

 

 

The whole truth and nothing else

Could really apply to them

It was not so much what they did

But the impression was the problem.

 

If you should speak the truth

But make it appear a lie

For whatever reason you did

On you I could not rely.

 

If you told me someone had died

But you told it like a joke,

You could not ever expect me

To believe that of which you spoke.

 

Some present truth like lies

And obscure its real intent,

It is their own personal agenda

On which they are invariably bent.

 

A classic case is the Bible

And how it is irreverently used,

True lies is a distinctive misrepresentation

In how the Word is abused.

 

Stewart Russell © November 2019