We Wear the Mask

 

We wear the mask...

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!

We Wear the Mask

—Paul Laurence Dunbar, from Majors and Minors, 1895

The Art:

All art is wholly owned by the artists.

Triumph-and-Agni by andantonius