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Tactical Cunning Skills

In the world of games, at age just two,
A child begins a cunning debut.
Concealment, distraction, teasing play,
Skills of deceit find an early way.
Lies not rigid, but surprisingly free,
Mimicking adults, yet with a child's glee.
Building images of competence, so keen,
Creating bonds and saving face, unseen.
Complex lies, a face-saving art,
At two and a half, they subtly start.
Bravado, corrections, blame placed askew,
In the world of children, skills accrue.
Blaming toys or an implausible name,
Learning from mistakes, not all the same.
In conversion disorders, signals so sly,
Deception plays out, catching the eye.
Like birds leading predators astray,
Children deceive in their own way.
From silence to calling, distractions unfold,
A repertoire of skills, cunning and bold.
Images created, affiliative and more,
Tools of deception in their little store.
As they grow, those skills refine,
A teenage web of deception, so fine.
Falsification, concealment, exaggeration too,
Mixing fact with fiction, a skill they accrue.
Equivocation, vague and ambiguous art,
Drawing incorrect conclusions from the start.
From age two to teenage years they go,
Honing the skills, their covert show.
In the dance of deceit, they find their part,
A journey from innocence to a deceptive heart.

Ⓒ Sobia Nosheen


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