We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes --
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
~Paul Laurence Dunbar
2 comments:
gosh, I have just been indulging self condemnation for sharing my heart openly and unreservedly with every stranger I meet. this almost inspires me to do it more... it is just that I am tired, and beginning to feel like "the pigs may not want the pearls."
oh ambiguous confliction!
One of my faves...
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