Once upon a time ....
a political prisoner
was released, battle-scarred, hell-shocked, after years
and years behind bars, ill-treated, half-starved.
‘Whatever’, we asked, ‘gave you strength to survive?’
‘We lied’, he replied with a smile.  ‘How we lied!’

‘They allowed us no books.  Lies told to each other
flowed, streaming like rain down a drain-blocked gutter.
What adventures we’d had!  What marvels we’d seen!
What a wonderful future would be achieved when ....
And what apt retribution lay waiting for THEM’.

Appalled by his scars, we were eager to know,
‘Were all the guards brutal?’   He said, ‘There was one
who flung back the door, picked me out, shouting,  “Come
to the Governor!  Now!”   He shoved me out, limping
on feet raw from lashing.  I felt all eyes watching.

‘Inside his own office, he hissed, "Phone your wife!
Let her hear your voice.  Give the woman a greeting.
Invent why HE wanted you.  Make it convincing”.
Within earshot, he yelled,  “Trough time, pig! Quit your moaning!”
Red beans crawled with weevils.  I just stood there, choking.

‘My wife, for her part, cooked up lies for the children:
“Daddy’s well.  He’s looked after in prison.  He’s fine”.

‘Lies that cut swathes through despair, space and time -
It’s not far.  Soon be home.  Things are bound to get better.
We will live ....
                                        happily ever after’.