Verdict of Innocence

Verdict of Innocence

we accept things
we don't really believe
things about people
including ourselves
we know
aren't true
things about
life
love 
and 
existence
that we know 
are complete bullshit

but there's reason 
to deceive ourselves
like if your daughter
was to marry
OJ Simpson
you'd want
his innocence to be true
not just the verdict
but the reality of it
to be true
understandably
for the sake
of your loved one
mostly
but 
for your own sake too
so you can get through the night
while she's bedded
next to a killer
so you deceive yourself
of his innocence
as a necessary thing
since there's nothing else to do
which both helps
you
and potentially harms
mostly her
but 
at the end of the day
you might
at least
get a full night's sleep
if you try hard enough
to deceive yourself
of OJ's innocence

i propose
its these things
these suppressions of truths
that 
in good measure
help us get by
and in bad measure
in their totality
are the catalysts
to our madnesses
so it's hard to say
if our deceptions
are either good 
or bad
i guess they are just
necessary conditions
of this thing
that allows us
from time to time
a decent night's rest