MASKS

 

At dawn of day no mask is worn,

There is no sense of me,

Parental impositions  shape,

Cladding what you’ll be.

 

 Early morning now reveals

Half phantom mask in place,

Literal, and concrete,

This quicksilver new face.

 

Late morning sees a new

And abstract mask will now arrive,

Experimenting, learning,

Constant motion sets alive.

 

By noon a favourite mask’s entrenched

Public face on show,

Chosen face, our comfort zone,

What we want the world to know.

 

But now the game gets harder,

As we travel through the day,

Life's constant wear and tear,

Causes mask to slip and fray.

 

So now we often change the mask,

For the role we need to play,

Adapt, fade back, merge in, belong,

We camouflage this way.

 

 

So all the world’s a stage,

Men and women merely players,

As we slip from mask to mask,

Covering all our layers.

 

But have you ever wondered

What lies beneath the cover?

The essence of the spirit

Breathing life in friend or lover.

 

If you could softly touch the face,

And peel the mask away,

What endless possibilities

Reveal to light of day.

 

If trust allowed removal

Of the mask we have in place,

The kindness of the soul revealed

In smiling lines of face.

 

Could  product of a life that’s lived,

The inner, fragile you,

Place faith, remove the mask you wear,

Embracing chances new?

 

Can the old dog learn new tricks?

Or is  mask too bound to him,

Is he brave enough  to share

That special self that lies within.