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Tell me it just ain’t so

Poem by Martha Quillen

Education – March 1997 – Colorado Central Magazine

I used to read the papers,

I used to watch TV,

But there’s a lot of things now

That I just don’t want to see.

Men who wear silk lingerie

And women who give in

To sodomy, degeneracy

And incest with their kin.

And, oh, how I wish I could go back

To believin’ it ain’t so,

‘Cuz I think that things were better

When I just didn’t know.

Tell me something Oprah,

Geraldo and Phil,

How do you think it helps us

To take in all this swill?

‘Cuz I think that things were better,

When I just didn’t know.

Yes, I think that things were better,

When I believed it wasn’t so.

They act like I should give a damn

Like I should understand,

Women who’d rather sleep with a trio

Than just one lonely man,

Men who want to make love

In front of other men,

But I would have liked them better

If I just didn’t know.

Yes, I surely liked them better

Before I knew that it was so.

Tell me something, Oprah

Tell me it ain’t so

Tell me it’s just made up

For your television show,

‘Cuz I think I liked things better,

Yes, I know that things were better

Before I knew that it was so.