How do you conceal who you are?
How many facets do you portray?
Do you change the way you dress daily?
Do you alter your hair and eye color?
Do you vary your tone, whisper, cry, or shout?
Do you add make up to accent different parts of you?
Are you an award winning actor playing a role?
Which part of you are most protective of?
The real you or the ones you show off?
I’ve said before, but I will say it again:
The crux of who you are is hidden for few to view
Who bask in your cheer, hope and self-esteem.
Of all the masks you’ve worn over time,
Which do you want to be ‘you’?
Is your identity a bricolage of family, friends, colleague,
Ethnicity, race, religion, and cultural ‘norms’?
What happens to the mask when the identity shatters?
Do you also fall apart, lose control, and spin like a top,
Unknowing what your next mask will represent?
It seems to me, after much consideration, experience
That who you are is reflected in your eyes,
Where your soul reaches out to impose its wisdoms,
In order for self satisfaction and acceptance to
Coexist in harmony with your favorite mask!
Poetry for Change 