Salty Black Lies

Salty Black Lies

The blackened tears of a made up face
A lie expected by the viewer
For the wearer knows as these things go
Time marches & truths grow fewer
As the laugh lines grow & gather close
A woman must make up her mind
Take the ravages of age with steely grace
Or wear a lie that’s felt so kind
But lies breed lies & the mask grows thick
Revealing truth for anyone to see
The lies of the mask make it heavy & fragile
It cracks & crumbles without dignity
Lies weaken exactly where believed in the most
The forehead, the eyes and the smile
And two black lines as the spell finally breaks
As a woman cries truth for a mile
Once she was hiding & hadn’t the bravery to stop
She relied more & more on the lie
But the weight to make & break a mask everyday
Brings all painted ladies to cry
A cracked foundation slapped on cracked foundation
Not judgement but empathy should lend
For the spell she fell under was for rape & for plunder
He convinced her that age was the end
She can’t be blamed for fearing a man’s expectations
When threats of loneliness loom so large
When you see her true face through the stripes & the flakes
Her lie revealed should carry no charge
You know who to blame because they make the game
Few see wisdom in fighting the grain
So when you see the blackened tears of her made up face
Know in defiance you have grace to gain
For if more women embraced their waltzes with Time
They’d discover their own source of power
Men can strut & fret all they want on the stages they built
But brevity’s the beauty & strength of a flower
The honest journey from bud to beauty & bravely fallen petals
It’s forgotten that next comes nectar & fruit
But most of all as we reach the flowers wilting in Fall
They carry seed for the next flowers in suit
So don’t cut them down to seal in wax or in glass
Don’t buy the falsehood of eternal youth
A confidence trick that grows ever more grotesque
Keeping flowers from living their truth
Let your tears run clear with pride & with joy
Smash your masks for emotional highs
See experience & wisdom instead of weakness & failings
Never tell those two salty black lies