Mask..
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides or cheeks and shades our eyes-
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth wth myriad subtelities.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us,
While we wear the mask.

We smile, but, O Great Christ, our cries,
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise;
We wear the mask
-Paul Laurence Dunbar