Honesty and poems go together like a hand and a glove. It’s not that a poem has to be about reality, but it’s always got to be sincere, and that’s not at all easy. Even if you’re writing in rhymed couplets and hitting the right meter in each line, if your poem lacks candor, then it lacks guts. Poetry is a wonderful place to experiment with feelings, for it’s in this way that we find the best words to express the honesty that we all sorely need. Here you will find four poems about honesty that you will not find anywhere else. Please enjoy, and if you haven’t already, don’t forget to subscribe to our updates! Thank you for reading Shadow of Iris.
Honesty Eclipse, a poem
by Dustin Down
Honesty is overrated,
they’ll tell you otherwise,
they’ll tell you honesty’ll save the world,
but don’t you know better than that?
I sat right there,
and I held your hand,
and all that I needed to say
I could have said. But I didn’t,
because holding your hand
right then felt so good,
that I just couldn’t let go.
I’d been so ashamed
and of so much—
and worse than anything
I felt undeserving—
a fake, a fraud, a pretender—
at school nothing made any sense to me—
it never did.
It was jumping through a series of hoops,
each one, an expectation someone dreamed up
in some hell that had nothing to do with me—
and yet everyone thought I jumped so well.
It was just a performance—
But did anyone know that was not who I was?
Inside I was as frightened as a rabbit,
there were so many things no one knew …
When I got your first note,
just the interest you showed in me—
it terrified me.
Then before I knew it,
we were holding hands,
kissing in empty halls—
and however strange it might have been
this became the only thing at school
that made any sense to me at all,
however much I botched it at times.
Honesty is overrated.
They’ll tell you otherwise.
They’ll tell you honesty’ll save the world,
but don’t we all know better than that?
Over the summer,
I’d wanted so much to see you,
I wrote you notes,
a lot I never even sent—
and I tried to call you—
you were utterly elusive
until one day you called me up.
Your dad, the one who was never around,
had given you a car,
and you were going to pick me up for lunch,
if I had the time.
I told myself I had to tell you everything—
every last thing that I had pocketed away and hidden.
And even if it meant no more hand holding
and no more furtive kisses, so what?
It would still mean something,
because it would be honest,
and I owed that to you.
What you needed was the truth from someone,
but then once I was there,
and once I was holding you hand
it felt so good—like a drug, better than a drug,
just to be sitting there next to you,
feeling you next to me—
I said nothing,
and I was so, so far.
Then when school started, just days later,
you weren’t there, you’d run away—
far, far away in that car your Dad had gotten you—
and the depth of my failure sunk in deep—
Don’t get me wrong,
I don’t know what you should have done,
but maybe that’s just the point.
There were things you needed to know,
things you had a right to know,
and I’d failed to tell them to you—
and so you’d acted,
alone.
So many people were angry at you,
yet all I could think was
that you must have felt about school
a lot like I had,
and I’d shared none of that with you—
all along, I’d had this follow traveler,
a potential friend,
and I’d never taken that chance
to confide in you.
Honesty is overrated.
They’ll tell you otherwise.
They’ll tell you it’ll save the world,
but doesn’t everyone know better than that?
Yet I have to wonder what would have happened
if in that last chance you’d given me
what would have been different
if I’d only given you that honesty
that you’d deserved.
Always Honest, a poem
by Isabel Tolling
Honesty is the great unknown
because don’t you know,
it’s all a bit overblown.
Everyone talks behind your back.
They’ll spill it all out,
and yet to you they’ll say jack.
We can’t lay it out bare,
because we’d never dare,
it’d give us too much a scare.
There’s always that thing we want to say,
but just when the time comes
doesn’t it all turn so gray?
You say you’re always honest,
But that’s your dead give away
that your not what you’ve promised.
Honesty’s Apology, a poem
by Charlie Tann
Honesty is hard,
and don’t you know
it’ll leave you scarred.
Oh, yeah, I used to believe
but that was only until
you had to leave.
Now, I’m trying rethink it all.
Because you know what? Some people—
they’ve got too much gall.
I’ll tell you one thing,
when you loved me—
well then I was king.
I know, I should’ve never lied,
but now there’s nothing left
except maybe my broken pride.
You know there’s never any honesty
when all you’ve ever got
is just one old used up apology
I’ll tell you this
even if it gives you
not a bit of bliss.
But you knows it’s true,
I’d lie and lie again, if it meant
not saying good-by to you.
Honesty, a poem
by Justin Thyme
In my crimes
I thought I’d left you behind
but then you came back here
and confessed your own.
I’ll never know
if was a betrayal
or a confirmation
of our faith in each other.
It’s never been the same since then
but among a sea of regrets
we’ll always have that moment
of near perfect
honesty.
Being honest may not get you a lot of friends
but it’ll always get you the right ones.
― John Lennon