A Parable of Painted Truths
I. The Privileged Perspective
In my gilded cage of crystalline lies,
I dance with a pink ostrich 'neath opalescent skies.
My wheelchair gleams with polished pride,
While others' struggles I deride.
Such delicious power in words that wound,
Like poisoned honey, sweetly round.
(For who would doubt a voice like mine?
When privilege and pain intertwine.)
II. The Betrayed Friend's Lament
My cat lies suffering, grey and thin,
While memories of friendship wear so thin.
Twenty-five years of shared delight,
Now scattered like moths in endless night.
No comfort comes from one who knew
The depth of bonds between us two.
Instead, she spins her gossamer tales,
Of greed and need that never was.
(The truth drowns in her waterfall of lies,
While my beloved companion slowly dies.)
III. The Flood's Memory
When waters rose like serpents vast,
And savings slipped into the past,
Fifty dollars—thrown like crumbs
To one whose world had come undone.
Now twisted into weapons sharp,
These memories play a bitter harp.
While trauma's tendrils grip my core,
She stands and slams each closing door.
IV. The Ostrich's Warning
(In whispered, clicking tones)
Crikey, listen close, you privileged soul,
Your lies may seem to make you whole,
But like my feathers—once so pink and bright—
Your truth is bleaching in harsh daylight.
Each fabrication that you weave
Returns to make your world deceive.
Until your words, though sugar-sweet,
Lie rotting at your pristine feet.
V. The Universal Chorus
Truth echoes in the spaces between,
Where liars' words have never been.
Though silver tongues may sparkle bright,
They tarnish in truth's revealing light.
For those who weave deception's dance,
Lose more than just a passing glance—
When truth at last demands its due,
No soul will trust what once rang true.
VI. The Revelation
(In scattered whispers)
She walks in manufactured grace,
A mask of kindness on her face,
While underneath, the shadows crawl
And empathy begins to fall.
The pink ostrich watches, knowing well
Each fabricated tale she'll tell.
Its feathers fade with every lie,
Until all colour starts to die.
For in the end, what's left to gain
When truth becomes a source of pain?
The liar stands in splendid gold,
Believed by none, forever cold.
In memory of a cat who deserved more than silence,
And for those whose stories were twisted into thorns.
In the cacophony of existence, a voice strains—
Forty-plus years of searching,
A lifetime of pains.
Words crumble to ash, unheard and unseen,
Lost in society's vast, indifferent machine.
Neurodivergent synapses spark and sputter,
A mind wired differently, thoughts all a-flutter.
Autism's maze, ADHD's relentless tide,
Trauma's shadows where nightmares reside.
Rejection's barbs, familiar as my own skin,
Each "no" a thorn, each silence a coffin.
Dysphoria whispers, "You don't belong here,"
In a world that sings harsh and unclear.
Nonbinary, queer, asexual—labels that confound,
A self yet unanchored, unsafe, unbound.
Isolation creeps, a suffocating shroud,
Drowning amid the indifferent crowd.
Empathy burns, a fire beneath the skin,
A curse, a gift, searing from within.
But who hears the helper's muffled plea?
Who sees the saviour drowning at sea?
Knowledge hard-earned through years of strife,
Wisdom gleaned from a fractured life.
Yet warnings fall on ears deafened by fear,
As others march blindly towards perils near.
The tribe remains elusive, a shimmering mirage,
Fading with each misunderstanding, each barrage
Of blank stares, of glances that never linger,
Of people who look, but fail to see the singer.
Helplessness learned, a bitter draught to swallow,
As hope's embers fade, leaving the heart hollow.
The voice grows hoarse, the weary spirit mired,
Unwanted, unseen, and uninspired.
In this abyss of unbelonging, deep and wide,
Echoes the cry of a soul with nowhere to hide.
For connection, for understanding, for home,
In a world where different means forever alone.
Senses overload: lights blind, sounds pierce,
The world a tempest, wild and fierce.
Touch that scorches, smells that choke and smother,
Each day a battle, one after another.
Yet still it burns, this invisible flame,
Flickering, sputtering, but never quite tame.
In the endless night, it stubbornly glows,
A beacon of self that nobody knows.
How long can it endure, this hidden pyre?
Will it fade from view or burn ever higher?
In the silence between heartbeats, it persists,
A testament to a life that still exists.