O Lovely Lie

 I told a truth, a tragic truth
 That tore the sullen sky;
A million shuddered at my sooth
 And anarchist was I.

Red righteousness was in my word
 To winnow evil chaff;
Yet while I swung crusading sword
 I heard the devil laugh.


I framed a lie, a rainbow lie
 To glorify a thought;
And none was so surprised as I
 When fast as fire it caught.

Like honey people lapped my lie
 And peddled it abroad,
Till in a lift of sunny sky
 I saw the smile of God.


If falsehood may be best, I thought,
 To hell with verity;
Dark truth may be a cancer spot
 'Twere better not to see.

Aye, let a lie be big and bold
 Yet ripe with hope and ruth,
Beshrew me! but its heart may hold
 More virtue than the truth.

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