Plastic Tears

And though I cry, this tear is shed

In vanity, but not in vain,

For watch, the people up ahead

Will pity me for feigning pain - 

So find an anguish I can steal

To justify the way I feel.

And these - this tearing breath, this sob - 

Are not the products of my fear,

But ploys, so that the rudest snob

Would stop to dry my pretty tears - 

So find a anguish I can borrow;

Give me some excuse for sorrow.

Know that all of this is fake,

As even in this verse I try

To coax a love whose hand I take

To comfort me each time I cry - 

But soothe this pain I do not feel,

And never let me cry for real.