Remove The Mask of Lies

They tell us to remove our masks,

Let people see us as we truly are,

Not to be afraid of being despised,

But how can we trust them

When they wear their own masks,

So tight they have become part of their skin,

A different mask for every occasion,

Dilemma, Disaster, Situation.

I saw her unmasked as herself,

Talking on the phone,

Thought no-one would hear her,

But I did.

I saw her back in class,

She’d given put the papers,

And for a second I caught her eye and,

I knew that, she knew, that I knew her secret

Terror was in that strange electric gaze,

She could wear no mask I wouldn’t see through now,

I know them all too well, from a moment,

When I saw her truly.

And who can hide behind a mask,

When there is a truth as terrible as that is staring back at you,

In truth’s harsh light all masks are stripped away,

And how we wish we could cling to them forever,

Hiding ourselves, our truths and our hearts,

Behind seeming’s of happiness or acts,

Wearing our brightly coloured, sometimes exquisite, happily lying Masks.