Beneath The Masks

Beneath the faces we have learned to wear

The polished words, the careful, measured air

There lives a self that whispers in the night

A voice that knows what’s wrong and knows what’s right

We build our walls with shields and borrowed dreams

With others’ expectations, and careful seams

But sometimes in the quiet, still, and deep

The most genuine part of us forgets to sleep

It trembles when we are honest, raw, alone

When no one’s watching, but he who judges from a throne

That self that laughs too loudly or loves too much

That craves the world with unafraid touch

To find is to shed what never fit

To sit with all the parts, we tried to quit

Tomeet the stranger we’ve been running from

 And say at last, “You’re welcome. You’re home. Come.”

For all the roles we play, the parts we choose

The most  self is what we can never lose

It waits, patient, beneath the fear and noise

The still, unshakable, authentic voice

“We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes.”