The Person Beneath The Mask

Everyone has secrets

Everyone tells lies

We all hide

I have a mask-like so many others

I don it everyday

It fits so perfectly-like a second skin

The pleasant smile and shining eyes

They are my real disguise

I hide behind this facade

So brilliantly crafted

So masterfully done

This mask goes with me everywhere

Where does my skin end and my clever mask begin?

I cannot separate my two skins

Writing down words

They spill from my lips with comfortable fluidity

Slipping past the lies and the fake, smiling eyes

Poetry

My salvation

The one time I feel alive

Spilling my words and the truths to paper

The same thoughts that would never escape my mouth

Writing these words of truth

Of overbearing emotion

Of a bleeding heart

Of my darkest desires and deep-seated fears

Gives me release

Gives me hope

Buries my pain

Writing my poems

Spilling my heart into words

That grace pages

And are emboldened in blackened ink

Allow my mask to fall

To show the person I really am...

The person buried beneath the mask