let us speak of truth which is to say let us speak of lies
because truth is the story we tell ourselves in mirrors
     while adjusting the light to hide our scars
          while painting over the cracks
               while pretending we were always this way

and here's the punchline about history we reconstruct
the past like children building sandcastles knowing
the tide will come knowing the walls will fall knowing
we'll just build them again tomorrow differently because
that's what survival looks like

we say this is how it happened which means
     this is how we need it to have happened
          this is how we can bear it to have happened
               this is how we sleep at night

let us speak of patterns which is to say let us speak
of the lies we tell about lies because every story
needs a beginning middle end except nothing
ever begins or ends it just shifts like sand
     while we draw lines in it
          while we plant our flags
               while we proclaim our temporary kingdoms

and here's the diagnosis history is the scar tissue
of time healing exactly the way we convince ourselves
it should have healed all along yes exactly like that
     exactly like we planned it
          exactly like we meant it
               exactly like we needed it to be