Euphemism

first a letter

scribbled on paper and attached to another
scratch marks and pink trails,
traces of others

which didn’t make the cut,
never even had the chance to evolve into a
word

then the word

jotted on paper and bound to the others

revealing thoughts but concealing secrets
masquerade balls of ideas
disguised in words
pretending to tell truth, while Truth dances
—hidden—
cloaked in nouns and adjectives,
verbs carefully chosen
to lessen the intensity of the reality
of the thought
which the word is trying to
reveal