Behind the Curtain Scholarship Entry

Location

Keep my gaze down,
Headphones glued in my ears.
Smile at the right moments.
Do the right moves, say the right lines,
And no one will ever suspect a thing.
No one will know that I struggle.
Just keep the mask until they can't see me.
Then, in the dark,
I can let it all go.
I feel lost in my desperation.
But I can't let them see the cracks.
The heartbreak that no one sees,
Because they don't look close enough.
Behind my curtains, I can break.
But the curtains skew my image from the outside.
They hide the tears, and show a smile.
The people applaud,
And I cry alone in the darkness,
Hiding everything in the shadows.

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