The Porcelain Mask

The Porcelain Mask

Perfection, it’s expected but is beyond reaching

Beauty, the most prized commodity but doesn’t satisfy

The world expects my perfection and beauty

I hide my true face, the one that is flawed

I’m sure I must be a fraud

Every morning I wake up with fear

My mask must always be near

So I may hide my tears

As long as I am in bed in my special place

Hidden under the covers I am safe

I don’t have to where that cage over my face

It hides my flaws from the whole human race

When I was young and a trusting fool

I didn’t know people could be so cruel

Peeking my face out from behind my mask

Thinking my friends would want to see at last

But very wrong I must be

For they screamed in disgust and ran away from me

Some lied and told me I was marvellous

When my back was turned their words were merciless

Still others acted as if it they didn’t notice

Then disappeared thinking I was hopeless

The older I got the less I took off the mask

Polishing it had become my main task

I had to be sure it was perfectly clean

The lonelier I became the prettier I would seem

Each morning it became harder to bear

None of this seemed any fare

The pleading screams muffled by that horrid cask

My swollen eyes no longer fit into the rivets of the glass

It continued to hurt more and more

My face growing forever sore

I no longer could wear it for a whole day

I would rush to the bathroom just to get away

My breaths came sharp as I would intake

I felt like I might suffocate

There was no going back

What was done was done

The mask and I had finally become one

I was praised in the streets for my beautiful face

I always was perfect, not one mistake

The sunlight glistened off my porcelain skin

Reminding people that I must be without sin

The more I heard praise the more my face burned

A smell of rotten flesh always returned

I might be shiny on the outside, however rotten to the core

These people who claimed to love me only admired a porcelain corps

One day, it became too much

My body was numb to the touch

The face in the mirror was not my own

That stupid mask wouldn’t leave me alone

I wanted it to die

It needed to die

My head slammed against the mirror

Shattering the porcelain cage that held me captive for years

It was broken beyond repair even if I tried

I could no longer where it as a disguise

The person underneath would have to do

If everybody hated me for it, who cares boohoo

I’ll be me

The real me

And not just some porcelain doll for people to see