What Breeds a Lie? 
Can you look in the eye
the wrongs you’ve committed,
and condemn them to die?

And when they’re dead,
and they’re gone-
Will you recall what you’d said?
N’ just how you went wrong?

Will you lie awake nights, 
but not lie during days, 
being glad there’s no fights,
but still question your ways?

Will you sit and you think:
Will you screw up again?
Will your mind dwell on failures
’till your mind starts to bend-

With fear; did I leave out,
did I forget?- All of it, 
everything important about ‘t?

Or did I forget some past
act; thought to be nothing, till
recalled, then guilt return fast?

Some deed thought to be innocent,
perceived as a wrong, 
thought to be ignorant,
a breach of trust raw?

Is this strength? Is this man?
Manhood at best, 
is this the behavior,
of a man’s heart in one’s chest?

Fear and anxiety over
what might have been done, 
what might be forgotten, 
what may be to come?

These are are seeds, 
planted in time; 
the answer, when asked,
What breeds a lie?

Author’s note: Another piece on the subject of deception, but I think I wrote this about my own lies I’ve told others as well as the lies I had been told. Estimated from around 2008-2010.