Hadi Atallah

Truth works very quickly,
Swiftly peeling back vanity and undoing pride.
Surly and at first, it feels like nothing,
But my eyes, once cold, and my voice, once hard,
Now tremble.

Truth is a madness.
It threatened to undo me.
I tried to hurl it back,
To cast it into the sea.
But my lips trembled with fear, not defiance.

Still, Truth had its one chance.
I tried to leave,
To break the pot that held me in.

Then came the whisper,
Soft and near:
“Hush. Don’t move.
Be still. Don’t worry.”