CLOSET

Part I · The High School Era (1992–1996)

So many broken promises
So many white lies
Where I’d tell them my story
Show the sparkle in my eyes

Doing my best
For I’m better than the rest
And what’s one more lie
In a pattern so complex
They wouldn’t know the difference anyway
And neither do I. Now—

“Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes, of course I understand.”
Just another untruth
Of a slightly different brand

Trying to make them feel good
Trying to help them up
Just another untruth
To fill the silver cup

Except now it’s overflowing
And it’s spilling all over

My closet’s my soul salvation
It is lord over my life
It’s a maze of my own creation
Intimate as my wife

My closet’s a limitation
I can’t know where it will lead
It’s a law of variation
From which I can’t be freed

How do I change their colors
From black to white to clear?
Conforming to my lies
Gets easier year by year!

Sun embrace me
Tightly tie my tongue
To speak a lie one more time
Would be a story sung

But there’s mystery in truth too
I must learn…

Composed 1992–1996 · part of the Poems collection · authorship documented on the Provenance page.