A Picture of Life

We could pretend that we believe in love

we could say all the right words

and take all the right pictures

to create an image of life

but without honesty

what are we really

without actions

that align with our words

what are we really

if what we believe

is so far from the truth

because truth is simply reality

what really is

not what we really wish it was

what we say shows what we want people to think of us

but what we do reveals what we really are

and one honest gift of love

is worth more than one thousand words of lust

and self-serving proclamation

one moment of truthful conversation

leads to a deeper connection

then hours of dancing around the issues

and better is the tattered picture

of us rumpled but happy

then the gold-framed portrait of us

perfect in our misery