Sometimes I think of our rotating world

And of the events that have already unfurled

I look at people caught in a daze

And see them obscured in a material haze

The fact remains that I cannot see

Who they are, but who they seem to be

What I mean is that I see their clothes

Their hair, their expression, their shoes and their pose

And yes I can also see their eyes

But there is where I discover their lies

For a man draped in full prosperity

May in fact be, in all verity

An empty soul with nothing to give

No one to love and no reason to live

And so it seems that looks are only surface

When it comes to people not in earnest

So is it wrong to keep pretense

A lie it is, but in defense

How hard would it be to come out and say

What you've been denying since the very first day

Now if I had asked if a lie was wrong

Then for affirmation I wouldn't wait long

But since it's just pretense, which we all do keep

With those lies, how can we all sleep?

We've learned to ignore how fake we've become

And instead have taken a persona that's dumb

Or at least just blind to the reality we face

Do we really want truth, or just more haze

If people were forward they'd tend to be blunt

Wouldn't it be easy to accidentally affront

Someone of stature or dignified pose

Another door opened, another door closed

It really comes down to which you would choose

A life of made-up but a convenient ruse

Or would you choose the cold face of life

That's rarely pretty and full of strife

The choice is yours but if I could say

I would choose the real, no matter how gray