Liam Dudgeon - Masks

Everyone has,
These masks,
They wear,
Hiding their thoughts.

Hiding their emotions,
A failsafe way,
To save themselves,
From those all consuming emotion.

Some of masks,
They wear for friends,
Some for family,
But masks they wear for themselves.

These masks,
Are those of,
True beauty,
Beauty in falseness.

Paint your face,
Learn to pretend,
Store every emotion,
Behind that mask of yours.

Take it off,
For the truly blessed,
Let them see,
Your inner self.

Burn away,
Your fevered dream.
Store them away,
Behind the masks we make.

Take care,
Not to let it show,
To fix the cracks,
In your ever-worn mask.

These idols we create,
Give us reason,
To doubt,
That we need our masks.

Masks that hide,
Our pain,
Our love,
Our hatred.

Everyone has,
These masks,
They wear,
If they know it or not.

If only she could see,
Who I am,
Beneath my mask,
See my qualities.

But I can not,
Take off these masks,
Or I will be,
Overwhelmed.

Fifteen years,
Of stored emotions,
Flooding back,
I can not deal.

To show my true self,
Is to admit myself,
To trust myself,
To feel again.

To long have I hidden,
Behind these multiple masks,
I feel love,
I feel hate.

But can never express it.
Can never show.
Can never tell her,
Just how I feel.

Because,
Should my mask crack.
My emotions,
Will overcome.

Liam Dudgeon 2008 ©

Liam Dudgeon

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/masks-17/