I told the truth, “You too raw, they don’t wanna hear you.” So I dressed her in lies just to make them feel you. Gave her soft makeup and chain link veneers, Now she whisper sweet nothings that confirm they fears. See, the truth too heavy, it bend backbones, Make a man reevaluate what he stand on. So we water her down, put her in tight jeans, Add filters and dreams and call that “high esteem.” But she cry in the mirror when the lights cut low, Because the lie she became ain’t the one she know. And I watch with guilt, played pimp to her pain, Sold truth in disguise for a slice of the fame. Now the lie walk tall, dressed in silk and deceit, While the truth sleep rough on the edge of the street. But the block know her scent, that unsweetened tone, The one that convict you when you all alone. So I write in codes, blend the fake with the proof, Until one day the lie gotta lie to the truth. And the truth just smirk, says, “I knew you’d come back I was always the heart you dressed in a mask.” She said, “I watched you trade me for likes and applause, For a crowd that forget you once silence withdraws. You clipped my wings so I’d fit in the frame, Then sold off my feathers and called it a name. I said, “But they ain’t ready, they brittle and blind, You too uncut, you too raw for they mind.” She said, “I was born in the pulse of the drum, In the hush of the hush when the real ones come.” She said, “You was scared I’d expose what you hide, So you stitched me in lace and dressed me in pride. But I’m still here, barefoot in the storm, Truth don’t vanish, she just change form. Now I see her in whispers from women who build, In the prayers of the patient, in the hush of the still. She walk with the grieving, she cry with the poor, She knock on the hearts that don't answer no more. And the lie? She nervous. She drinkin’ to cope, She sweat in the mirror when Truth start to poke. Because the lie only lives when the lights stay on, But the truth don’t sleep, she been here all along. So I peeled back the paint, I unlearned the disguise,