The Captain's Mast

Lashed to the mast upon your ship of lies
Carved images upon its totem like visage pressing into your back
Sure to leave a permanent negative impression
Should you ever loosen those ropes to provide enough slack

Who carved them there?
Why you did of course
With steady hands and second rate carpenter's tools
Which had to be replaced at twice the rate as a quality set
But you never question this because you are a fool

This one the face of that thing you did in the dead of night
That one week when you were twenty one
A lie so deep it may not be spoken
Lest it unravel the knots that hold your life from coming undone

Here is another for the time you dunked the cat in the toilet
"She fell in" is what you offered as the why
And though at the tender age of five
It danced from your lips as the sweetest kind of lie

When you were nineteen this one appeared under your knife
Showing a thief with his hand in a drawer
Who is the thief and exactly what you took
Is a lie that is fundamental to your core

When life seems quiet on the outside
This is where your mind wanders
Lashed to a totem mast in a roiling storm
Safe at sea from any first responders

You'd not want help even if it could reach you
As you ride your ship of lies into the eye of the storm
A storm that is all within your own head
Untainted by any goodness to keep your soul warm