A long sought gift yet despised when the time is wrong

Not a Christmas present, not a toy, but a weapon of healing and harm

Look not to the shadows for it but for relief

A mirror gives some to eat, a child freely gives of it, but wise hold it

A gem to the eye and salt to the wound

Truth a word of pain and relief

Able to cut deeper than bone

Answers to questions that in the mind, drone

Simple and delicate

Easy to corrupt and decay

Answer, is there anything as beautiful or precious as it

So simple and beautiful yet easy to tarnish and scratch

This gem called truth and salve called lies which is better

A healing lie that leaves wounds open to infection

Gives comfort and leads only to ruination

That touches one soul and spreads like a web entangling all in

Yet in the mist of the trouble that it causes it brings smiles to children when they hear the right one