If Real Truth Has a Cynic’s Ring

Author’s Note: Oscar Wilde said “A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” — but what if cynics see the world as it really is..?

If real truth has a cynic’s ring,
We’re guilty of the charge;
There’s strings attached to everything,
In the real world at large.

We know false value has a price,
Especially when sold;
We throw the dice for a large slice,
Of pyrite or fool’s gold.

We know true value’s snuffed at birth,
In this flawed world we’ve made;
But on this Earth, things of real worth,
Require no money paid.

If cynicism is the truth,
It says how real things are;
And the truth we’ve been sold since youth,
Is fiction gone too far.

Richard is a poet and amateur blues harmonica player who lives in the seaside town of Clacton on England's east coast. He's had approximately 70 poems published in England and Wales as well as a number of articles. He can be reached at: richard-layton@zen.co.uk. Read other articles by Richard.