Truth in Lies (Lies beneath the surface)

“That’s what fiction is for. It’s for getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.”

 

-Tim O’Brien

 

Often I tell people stories,

stories of agony, death, and a life destroyed.

Most of these stories are half-truths

or no-truths, blatant lies,

yet I feel justified telling them.

There is no guilt, no sense of regret,

because through these lies there is a

throbbing, pulsating beacon of veracity,

for they convey the burning, abstract

pain on the inside.