The Eleventh Day of Christmas: "We Wear the Mask"
By the time Paul Laurence Dunbar died in 1906 at the age of only 33, this son of former slaves had become an acclaimed writer, both in the US and overseas. The poem below is often cited as his most famous.
We Wear the Mask
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes —
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
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 think other-wise,
We wear the mask!
Labels: Arts, Special occasion
posted by Karen Nelson @ 5:11 AM
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