Seeing Isn’t Always Believing

What if its meaning doesn’t hold the value it should:

Seeing Isn’t Always Believing

They say seeing is believing—
as if eyes have never lied,
as if vision is virtue
and perception is pure.

They say beauty lies
within the beholder,
as though worth
is something borrowed
from another’s gaze.

But what is its meaning
if it doesn’t hold
the value it should?

If love only counts
when witnessed,
if pain only matters
when visible,
if beauty must be approved
to be believed—
then what of the unseen?

What of the quiet strength
that never makes the photo?
The tears swallowed whole
so no one questions the smile?
The scars stitched beneath skin
too polite to split open?

Seeing is not believing.
Sometimes it is misreading.
Sometimes it is choosing
comfort over truth.

And beauty—
real beauty—
does not beg for recognition.
It does not wilt
when ignored.

Its meaning holds value
even in the dark,
even when no one is looking,
even when the beholder
looks away.

Because truth does not need
an audience
to be true.