Come Behind the Curtain

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Pay no attention to the woman behind the curtain

She longs to tug on the fabric, to pull it miles away

She hides so that her mold matches that of society

So that she won’t be seen for her flaws and mistakes

 

Because flaws build their own curtain

They hide, shyly, to make up for their ugliness

But inside we see no flaws, we see no mistakes

We hide behind the fabric that lets no light shine

The fabric that lets no truth be told

 

 

If my soul could speak to yours, and yours to mine;

Would we be so afraid of ourselves anymore?

Why do I hide my intelligence, my humor?

To dull myself to the alabaster hue of fear

The fear of love, art, and expression

 

I am only as tall as the curtain I hide behind

But come behind the curtain with me

See my fear of losing my mother

In the same way I lost my father

All those years ago

 

Come behind the curtain with me

See how illness keeps me in bed

Like any other human being

We suffer, we fear, we try and fail

But I am still human

 

I must learn today to push my curtain

Which weighs 1,000 pounds

Full of the pieces of myself that I’ve hidden

Like a dusty old puzzle

Abandoned by a nursery child

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