WE WEAR THE MASK

by: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

      E 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 oh 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!

"We Wear the Mask" is reprinted from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. Paul Laurence Dunbar. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1913.

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