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About This Author
My name is Joy, and I love to write.
Why poetry, here? Because poetry uplifts its writer, and if she is lucky enough, her readers, too. Around us, so many objects abound to write about. Once a poet starts with a smallest, most trivial object, he shall discover that his pen will spill out what is most delicate or most majestic hidden inside him. Since the classics sometimes dealt with lofty subjects with a lofty language, a person with poetry in his soul may incline to emulate that. That is understandable. Poetry does that to a person: it enlarges the soul and gives it wings. Yet, to really soar, a poet needs to take off from the ground.
![Joy Sweeps [#1514072]
Kiya's gift. I love it!](http://www.InkSpot.Com/main/trans.gif)
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Daily Cascade #1105296 added January 6, 2026 at 1:53pm Restrictions: None
Truth and Lies
Prompt:
"Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What does Emerson mean in this quote and in what ways, do you think, any lie can be beautiful?
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Anytime, I tackle Emerson, I end up confusing myself. And this quote is no exception. Just maybe, my poetic thinking cap has many holes in it, and I am now sitting at the computer with an uncomfortable tension.
So now, it comes to me that Emerson is challenging his readers to think about why people are drawn to lies. Not because lies are stronger than truth, but because they are easier. Truth asks us to change. Lies ask only what we believe on the surface.
I can understand more easily why truth is beautiful. It is because truth is real. Talking for myself, it grounds me, gives shape to my life and lets me trust others. In fact, two days ago, my son told me I was too trusting, involving the matter that a worker for the outside of the house wasn't showing up but charging us just the same. But I digress. Coming back to truth, it doesn't need any decoration. Truth has the weight of integrity and consequences, and it endures. What is true remains standing even when things are or become painful.
As to lies being beautiful, they are like a woman who looks good only when she wears an intense make-up. This makes her appealing, only because she wears beauty like a costume.
Yet, temporarily, lies offer escape, hope, and comfort. Are they ever useful? I tend to believe not, but I can understand that, in extreme circumstances, they may soften grief, protect innocence, or preserve peace. In fact, fiction, story-telling, and even art are built on lies that reveal truths. Those invented stories help us relate to and understand other worlds and ours much better, as we all know here in WdC.
On the other hand, a lie's beauty is weak and fragile. It depends on illusions that easily evaporate. What begins as comfort or entertainment can become harmful if it replaces the truth, and worse yet, it distracts us from our real lives. By this, I don't mean to downplay the writing arts and our imaginations, but after we put down our pens and leave the keyboards alone, shouldn't we engage in our real lives, fully? Ultimately, even in writing, especially in good writing, deep down inside, that stronger truth is always there.
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© Copyright 2026 Joy- Happy 2026! (UN: joycag at Writing.Com). All rights reserved. Joy- Happy 2026! has granted InkSpot.Com, its affiliates and its syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work.
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