WAY TOO HARD (SONG LYRICS)
HONESTY MAY NOT ALWAYS BE THE BEST POLICY
LISTEN HERE: WAY TOO HARD — SUNO
[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.
When receiving a useless gift… by resisting when asked what you honestly liked about it.
When someone proudly shows their haircut, which looks horribly wrong… while hoping it will grow back before too long.
When someone asks if they’ve disrupted, after already thoroughly interrupted.
When someone wonders if you were listening to what they just said. You nod as though you heard it all… while still thinking of something else instead.
When at a school reunion, describing your successful life without any self-delusions.
When at a new job interview, asked to review why your previous employer thinks negatively of you.
When at a funeral — as requested — to say something nice… as expected.
When at a wedding, being asked, if you believe the marriage will ultimately last.
[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.
When friends ask for an honest opinion of their terrible plan after already investing more than they should or can.
When telling someone what you know could bring a friendship to an end. You wonder if your honesty would help or merely hurt a friend.
When someone asks if you’ve forgiven all the hurt they put you through. You tell them that it’s over… although the memories remain still haunting you.
When honesty would reopen wounds that haven’t completely healed.
When the pain would serve no purpose once the truth is wholly revealed.
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When the truth would turn a cherished memory into a much more painful one or expose what cannot ever be undone.
When telling what you know would bring an innocent person shame.
When someone else would suffer though they weren’t the one to blame.
When honesty would punish someone innocent all along… who has done nothing wrong.
When telling the truth offers nothing but cruelty if you try, and the answer causes more pain than the lie.
When the truth comes too late to protect greater interests or to make any difference.
When people can’t tell the truth — not necessarily because they’re dishonest or proud, but because the truth is too embarrassing, inconvenient, dangerous, or simply impossible to say aloud.
[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.
When the truth is what they need but not what they can bear to hear.
When silence seems more loving than confirming someone’s greatest fear.
When admitting the truth leaves someone unable to cope or would destroy someone’s last remaining hope, while already walking a thin tightrope.
When the person asking isn’t prepared to hear the answer, especially when suffering stage four brain cancer.
When speaking honestly would steal someone’s final peace or silence provide some solace or small release.
When, with every truth you author, silence is the only kindness you have left to offer.
When telling all you know would only tear lives apart. You learn that being truthful might not be kind at heart.
Not every untruth is intended to deceive, and not every truth is intended to relieve.
When telling the truth is a matter of different degrees. What is true, what is right, and what is kind don’t always agree.
[CHORUS] Truth can leave resentments no one gets to set straight. Always telling the truth may sometimes be a mistake.
…be a mistake.
© 2026 Peter W. Collier
