Where Is Honesty? – A Poem
For a variety of reasons, including hearing the songs Honesty by Billy Joel and Grounded by The O.C. Supertones in the past week, the subject of honesty has been on my mind lately. (Click the links if you want to hear either of these songs on YouTube.)
This is my offering for Open Link Night at dVerse Poets Pub today. You can head over and check out some other great poetry, too, if you like.
Where Is Honesty?
David cried out to God, saying
“And in my dismay I said,
‘All men are liars.'”
But still he trusted in the Lord.
Jesus said Satan
is the father of lies
there is no truth in him.
If we deny we have sinned
there is no truth in us.
Billy Joel sang
“Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
You can have the love you need to live.
But if you look for truthfulness
You might just as well be blind.”
The O.C. Supertones warn there’s
“No truth in a world
that is randomized.
Expose the lies
no matter how they’re disguised.”
We hear lies on TV,
everywhere we turn.
We lie to God
and to ourselves.
We plan our lies –
“If she asks, I’ll say . . .”
Say what?
Why not the truth?
The truth hurts, they say.
But lies hurt more
and the healing takes much longer.
Sometimes it takes a lifetime
to find the honesty
our hearts so desperately need.
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Speaking of songs, this reminds me of the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams”:
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
Your stanza on Jesus and Satan, and the whole issue of trust vis-a-vis God also reminded me of the Book of Job.
I love that Eurythmics song! It does seem to fit. And your reference to Job is another good addition. Peace, Linda
Thanks for this thoughtful piece. Honesty is a debt we owe to everyone. It’s important to be reminded.
“But lies hurt more
and the healing takes much longer.”
So true, Linda. So true.
Blessing and thanks for sharing,
ann
Ann, I believe it’s a good truth to remember when tempted to tell even a little white lie. Peace, Linda
Thank you for giving us this look at honesty and encouraging us to be a truthful people. God bless you!
Deb, Why am I not surprised that you took away from this poem the encouragement? I love your beautiful outlook on everything. 🙂 Peace, Linda
broken trust is a hard thing
It’s very difficult to put back together. Peace, Linda
lies do hurt and what do they really accomplish when we know the truth and guilt behind them…there is no such thing as a good lie you know….
honesty is so important.. that’s one of the things i expect from a good friend even if it hurts sometimes…cool mix of billy joel and king david here..smiles
My mum always taught me that. She really didn’t like liars because she said ‘You can usually catch a thief but, a liar is far more difficult but, they always have to remember what they lied about though, to be certain not to be found out.’
We all lie to some extent even if it’s not to hurt someone’s feelings and, if we say we don’t we are lying to ourselves but, I agree and try to teach my teen, it’s far better to tell the truth and then you don’t need to always be careful of not being found out.
Nicely said.
Thanks. I have tried to teach my teen honesty as well, and I think the lesson has sunk in. As I wrote this I kept thinking of a joke I recently read: “I’m always disappointed when a liar’s pants don’t actually catch on fire.” The first time I read it I had to stop and think about it, then I remembered the old taunt, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” But they don’t – sometimes you never know you’ve been lied to. The scarier thing is when we lie ourselves and think we will get away with it. But God always knows, so the liar doesn’t ever really get away with it. Peace, Linda
Thanks for another interesting read. Honesty is an ideal we all applaud, but too often fail to practise. It’s a shameful, but inevitable, part of being human I fear.