there's this book, a manual, a guide for shrinks
ostensibly it aids them in assessing how one thinks
to my mind it contains something for everyone
to be human is to invariably become undone

degrees of  normality, degrees of insane
eventually too much knowledge
makes the struggle an exercise in vain
some gentle ones give up and relinquish trying
coping is groping,  thrashing,  lying

to thine own self be true
unto this missive troubles you'll rue
total honesty  impossible to know
minuscule fleeting fractile glimpses of the show
'do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth'?
I can only promise to try
social strictures require we lie

I will not swear to something I cannot believe
I'm rarely really certain of any given thing;  my doubts know no reprieve
When Krishna revealed to Arjuna his entire magnificence
Arjuna recoiled in fear to behold such terrible opulence
likewise my eyes have been opened to some totality
so I view the truth as a comfortable logical fallacy
therein is the problem the dilemma defined
to tell the 'whole truth' I would most certainly lose my mind