A Mother's Mask

How well do you know your mother? Probably not as well as you think...

 

A place to quiet my mind

It's really all I ask,

Where I can leave noise behind

And remove my mask.

 

It feels so heavy, at times this great weight

But I've worn it so long, to take it off - it's too late.

 

What would they say

If they saw my real face

Instead of this clay

I have put in its place?

 

If they knew what's inside, just what I've been thinking

If they knew that most of the time, I feel like I'm sinking?

 

He thinks he knows his wife,

They think they know their mom.

They don't see the strife

They don't see the time bomb.

 

My mask, it's a good one, it fits like a glove,

So their lives they can live, knowing only my love.

Reviews

[Samuel Dickens]

I understand what a huge sacrifice and responsibility it is to be a mother. You do so much that goes unrecognised--burying your own wants and desires for the sake of others. There's no doubt that it would make you feel as you've described here. Hopefully it will all have been worth it, and you'll be able to take off the mask at long last. That is what I wish for you.

[Miss Shea]

I'm not a mother, but I know exactly what it's like to cover myself with a mother's mask and sacrifice everything I am to step up and play the role.

This is a very emotional poem, something that seems to pass on courage to wear that dreaded mask a little longer, let them love you as they know you...as the person you pretend to be for them.

I hope that it isn't always like this though; the heartache and strife, being someone you play well, but know that you're not them.

Keep writing!!!

[Absentee Reality Check]

This is amazings, it so perfectly describes how much a person has to hide to keep a realtionship going, it shows how much a mother sacrifices to keep their child feeling loved. it so completely captures that feeling of being caged in by the person you have to be for them, and how after all the time you spend being someone else it is hard to even find time to be yourself. Keep Writing!

[MagiCrystal]

Merci! We all have one mask.. pretty or ugly.. the mystery is within us!..Magique!! Music is life.. dance it! besos.. love your poetry.. X)X)X

[Fran Marie]

If they knew what's inside, just what I've been thinking

If they knew that most of the time, I feel like I'm sinking?


I can so relate to wearing this mask~ the self-sacrificing mask

so that hubby, kids, can live their life never realizing we are

sinking Behind The Mask~ THanks for submitting this well crafted

piece to the Masquerade Ball Contest!~Fran Marie

[alyssa]

i love it... ithink it speacks the truth many people put on a mask!! lovr it!!

[BrightEyes]

it is necessary when one is a mother to have a mask on a level - kids don't need to worry with adult matters. I wonder how well anyone knows us really; since to a certain extent we all have a mask we wear for the world and another person we are in private. you've made the reader think here and that's always good. :-)

[Lady-N-Red]

Love this...it is so true, we all wear our mask...and no one ever really knows you but you

[Wicahpi]

nicely conveyed Paza! i often wonder to myself how my own son envisions me. does who know who i really am? i doubt it. thank you for the wonderful read. I enjoyed it.

[[untitled]]

this piece conveys the multi-faucetness of women as mothers and wives and the sacrifices of their individual identities. how long can a person wear a disguise without the disguise wearing the person? sometimes it is easy to forget that a mother is actually a person with their own agendas, desires, needs, wishes, etc. great idea and poem.