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Fiction
Back when I was no bigger than brother bear,
I believed those snow white tales about animals interacting,
always with ethical endings.
Living in a world tinged rose
as sure as a red hood cast over my face,
I thought all the creatures of the world obeyed the golden rule-
then I was taken to school...
All the kids all knew the same stories as me,
some just stole different lessons,
and I met too many billy-goats and chick-littles
who thought the moral of A Boy Who Cried Wolf,
is not to tell the same lie,
over and over again,
or it won't be believable anymore,
you gotta change it up if you wanna fool anybody,
and I guess I've been the village fool,
'cause I persisted in my belief that we're all honest mirrors,
cursed or blessed to speak truth,
but the truth is,
if we are mirrors,
then a lot of us are broken,
lying magic mirrors,
only reflecting what they think you want to hear,
or how they want you to feel.
and we justify ourselves,
we just want to appear beautiful reflecting in each other's eyes,
but a man's lies,
only show how much he hates that part of himself,
otherwise why hide it?
once upon a time,
a little prince,
betrayed
for what he vowed would be the last time,
built
great walls around his city,
and let no one in,
as the years flipped by,
thought my innocence was lost on past pages.
But you can't lose a treasure like that,
you just bury it and lose the map.
And whatever security I gained from closing these walls,
it couldn't stop the loneliness from coming in.
And I think I remember where I buried my innocence,
in the sandy rejection pains and fears beneath the walls
So I'm tearing them down,
fear by fear, brick by brick,
and the people are streaming back in.
and I know I'll still have to deal with wolves in wool,
but I'll never again be a fool,
I am rioting townspeople rising against story-tellers,
torching pants and stretching Pinocchio noses with my needle-nose pliers-
and there's this new notice posted over the entrance to my castle:
"This kingdom stands for justice,
and against injustice,
flipsides of the same coin,
so heads up:
these doors only open for the honest."