A Word For What

Take a word. For what?
Its worth, and nothing
more.

Assume that I'm telling the truth to you
for any and all of the good it'll do
- and what if I lied? If I'm not sincere?
does the moon turn to cheese after all these years?

Oh, I fear that the moon is still moon,
my dear. My darling, my sweet
little fool - don't believe that
a thing can only be true if the one
who told it to you
is believing it too.

That is only the case in
three very clear words.

Every other statement,
assertion,
absurd
or plain and humorless; every other
opinion, every other claimed
fact: can be taken apart,
can be turned white and black
with a high-contrast lens,
rationality-wise - put
that filter in place for your rose
-colored eyes, then
when you've seen it sharp,
like a clean, bright line

dial nuance back in, into fine
gray shades, then
discard shadow-play
and let color return:

assume that the one
who is talking to you
- who you're taking the time to hear -
believes what they say.

You have nothing to lose
by this.

Don't be an idiot.

What
does it cost you, just
to assume truth? If you fall
for it - if you believe
they believe -

do you owe them money?

Take their words for free,
with a free and easy benefit
-of-doubt that benefits you
far more
than it does the other fool. Who cares

what the other fool believes?

You'll find you can take their words
on credit, not faith, for what they are worth
on merit alone. And that

will make the truth pleasant and free,
as easy to see and as sweet as home
to come home to.

Whether they believe what they say
or not
(except professed love)
matters not a whit.

Have I been fooled? By a trickery, what?
By a lie or two? Well what did they get?

Away with it!

Apart from claimed love,
doesn't matter what's meant.
There is no truth value at all
in intent.
The only truth you can get
is right there in the words: if
there's any at all, it isn't
in whether or not that person's
a jerk. That's a concern
that doesn't so much
as touch the truth
of the thing they've said. So take them

for everything that they're worth.

The fool who "tricks you" - when you take every word
at its face-value
- that fool has been fooled. For you
have stolen true truth
from what they believed was a lie, stolen wisdom
from what they believed was a ruse.

From me,
you could get anything that you choose.
Take my words for whatever they're worth
to you: but

only if you can assume they are true.

Ask what I mean,

and I'll answer you.