We wear the mask that grins and lies, <br />It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,-- <br />This debt we pay to human guile; <br />With torn and bleeding hearts we smile, <br />And mouth with myriad subtleties. <br /> <br />Why should the world be overwise, <br />In counting all our tears and sighs? <br />Nay, let them only see us, while <br />We wear the mask. <br /> <br />We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries <br />To thee from tortured souls arise. <br />We sing, but oh the clay is vile <br />Beneath our feet, and long the mile; <br />But let the world dream otherwise, <br />We wear the mask!<br /><br />Paul Laurence Dunbar<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/we-wear-the-mask/
