The Mask Will Always Win

We all have a mask...

Hiding, shielding,
Blocking it all out.
Smiling, laughing,
Acting it all out.
Bottling, boxing,
Keeping it all in.
Sighing, grieving,
The mask will always win.

Abandoned, exposed,
There is nowhere to hide.
Mortified, deflated,
Just keep it all inside.
Overlooked, belittled,
It will only just begin.
Attenuated, sabotaged,
The mask will always win.

Silently, secretly,
Tears lost to the night.
Swiftly, blatantly,
Strictly black and white.
Deftly, reverently,
Blade against the skin.
Inevitably, irrevocably,
The mask will always win.