Mask of Light

By Devon DeMarco

I wear the mask that I'm lively, 

The mask that hides these tired eyes, 

Tired eyes that have seen too much absence.

With these tired eyes, showing false light;

Yet saying so much of what my mouth can't.

When the world is too unknowing, 

While it once was so sagacious.

The only real glimpse the world gets, 

Is when there's a crack in my carefully constructed mask.

Oh, how I laugh at the mocking jokes

Just to not be a "Debbie Downer."

How I try, to be the enduring friend

But I'm always the bitter, discarded friend.

Beneath my feet feels empty, nothing to stand on.

All they need to know is the person wearing the mask, 

Not whoever lay beneath it.

For all this I say seldom, 

I wear the mask.