Tongue That Cannot Lie

I was born with a tongue that cannot lie

And how it grieves me

Each fleeting thought behind my eye

Just up and leaves me

Into the wild like a bastard child

Born under a briar

Oh to be, oh to be

Oh to be a liar

I've been courted by saints and by sinners

Who know all the things that a tongue can tell

Whose discrete invitations for sweet revelations

Were such an enticement to sell

But the street price of secrets seduced and reduced me

To trading without any care

Chorus:

Oh to be, oh to be

Oh to be a liar

Oh to be, oh to be

Oh to be a liar

And so in conscience I chose to avoid those

Consumed by ambitions of earthly dominion

But even this act, the omission of fact

Just delighted the lords of opinion

And in retreat from it all, I did fall for a man

Who swore that my words were a blessing

But for each of the beautiful daughters we bore

I betrayed all the joy in my heart

And each harmless invention or childlike convention

I brutally shattered apart

Some say love is saying the way that it is

But believe me it just isn't so

For the joy of surprises and the tooth-fairy wonder

And Halloween guises were all torn asunder

And the lovely mistruths that I so longed to utter

Dissolved in the blink of a tear just like butter

(Chorus)

For a tongue that can't lie

Shall cause the meek to cry

Cruel words to cut them through

And a tongue that can't lie

Shall cause the righteous few

To silence all that is true

(Chorus)

Now I wander these earthly lands from pole to pole

And from shore to lonely shore

Seeking concealment in corners, but somehow the world

Still descends on my door

Afflicted, addicted I pray for a potion

To take all these visions away

Oh to be, oh to be

Oh to be a liar

So tear out this tongue and stitch up these barbarous eyes

With which I see

And grant me the right to spare you

The cold callous cut of reality

Won't you take all this knowing

And leave me with nothing, no, nothing at all?

Let me speak what I will

And reserve all the rest

And I'll walk through the world

Neither blighted nor blessed

For my sole modest wish now before my demise

Is to savor the sweetness and the kindness of lies

(Chorus)

For a tongue that can't lie

Shall cause the meek to cry

Cruel words to cut them through

And a tongue that can't lie

Shall cause the righteous few

To silence all that is true

(Chorus)

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