An Inconvenient Truth

I wonder how often the truth can be inconvenient
Just as the reality of global warming won’t go away
Plastic pollution another scourge we must prevent
But why can’t we put it off till some future day?

The state of the Health Service revealed in latter days
But those who are rarely ill prefer not to know
Why make us responsible for every national malaise?
Such awareness we would far rather forgo

And are we not well versed at ignoring harsh reality?
Not just near at home but all around the globe
The plight of so many living in abject poverty
Local beggars point to their lack of hope

In politics too, truth is often hard to find
Perhaps its concealment quite deliberate
Each party advocates a state of mind
Promoting their own reality in all debate

At the personal level are we too not duplicitous?
Often indulging in elaborate deceptions
Of others’ welfare allegedly solicitous
Much more concerned for our own satisfaction

Truth remains truth no matter how inconvenient
Not destructible by time’s effluxion or greater distance
Or by falsehoods spread as we may find expedient
Veracity stands firm against deceit’s resistance

Ken Fisher