Masks

I wear a mask… I live behind the mask I am the mask. A mask of many layers, A mask of quiet vehemence. A mask that helped me survive the masses That hid the truth beneath a veneer, Yet somehow showed fragments of me to the tribes. In fear of revealing my truest self, My masks pile up infinite layers Yearning to break free, Yet trembling at what may follow. They loosen in the shadows, quiver in stillness, almost breaking almost undone And somewhere between breath and breaking, when death pauses for love, life becomes infinite and my mask crucifies itself What if I never had to wear a mask? What if I never had to become one?