This mask is tied

Onto a lonely hide

Over meat that long since withers

And banks where tears carved rivers

This mask is tied so tight

This mask is slipping

With a sound of ripping

Strings torn away from gilded bone

And pearls scraped off of silver dome

This mask slips into the night

This mask is hung

Off of a rung

Where young soles of rubber

And dark whispers mutter

This mask is hung in light

This mask is old

It’s edges cold

Paint chips scrape off the clay

And details bright now do decay

This mask is old tonight

I see this mask

This paper shell

Where once I was trapped within.

I see this mask

With secrets to tell

It’s bright smile now sorridly grim.

I see this mask

It’s fear been quell

Trembling at places I’ve already been.

I see this mask

My heart must swell

Because losing this mask let me begin.