Each mask hides another,
Veil on tearstained veil.
Each tattered page of my heart,
Inked and stamped and sealed
In the shadows of my mind.
I wrote myself a fantasy,
Bound my heart in steel.
The bleeding aches I turned to scars,
My dreams to sweat and tears.
I formed and chiseled and polished
And pounded out my soul
Until my reflection stared back
Like a heroine of old.
I stood before the tarnished mirror
Of all I ought to be.
A little better than my best,
Swifter here,
More caring there.
Let the world crumble at my feet;
My foundation lay within my soul,
Where no hand could touch.
The reflection grew dim,
The masks ached and chafed,
And one by one I let them fall
Until only I stood
Unarmed, unarmored,
The heroine who needed nothing else.
The aches still throbbed and pulsed
From some deeper, darker place.
Fissures spread across my frame,
Across the mirror.
I grasped and clutched the shards
Of who I thought I was.
But the heroine joined the masks,
In choking, blinding ash.
And in the cracking mirror, I saw
Myself.
A trembling and lonely child
Stained with the dust of dreams.
Not quite as much as I’d always thought,
Less than all I’d tried to build.
All my efforts shattered
In glass about my feet.
I sank into the ruins of my best
As day drifted into dusk.
No safety, no point, no reason to try,
Only wild, chartless wilderness
And footsteps,
A shadow where my reflection once stood.
Another crouches in the dust;
His tears reflect my own.
“Come.”
He holds out a hand.
“I can be enough.”
Hope Ann works alongside troubled teenagers at a therapeutic boarding school, enjoys natures, and writes a wide range of fantasy. Fueled by passion, relationships, and constant learning, she works to provide an escape from the grind of normal life through fiction and the sarcastic, no-nonsense inspirational posts on her blog. She’s the self-published author of the Legends of Light series, a personal writing coach, and the Story Embers newsletter manager. You can join her email list to claim a free novelette about a sister willing to face Death himself to reclaim her sibling.
Great poem!
Thanks.
This was beautiful, Hope! <3
*grins* glad you like it.
One of my favourites that you’ve ever written.
*bows* thank you.
*nods* I don’t know what my words are in response.
Apparently… those words. XD
I relate to this so much… This is beautiful. 🙂
*bows* I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Wow this is so awesome Hope! I love these images so much!
Thanks. I really enjoyed writing this one.
WOW and OUCH I relate too much. This is awesome.
*grins* Thanks
I love this! So beautiful!
*bows* thank you
This poem creates a very distinct image. It turns the descriptions of physical pain into an analogy for emotional/identity pain, which is also a useful technique when describing a character’s personal agony.
Eagerly waiting for the next one!
*blinks* I… have to write another one?
Love this one Hope!!! Are you going to write another one? 😉
Eh… not sure. XD I have other poems. Not sure if/when I’ll do another mask one though.
This was a great poem and I shall try not to be too cliche in my comment. (True, it was a while ago, but I’ve just read it.)
I must say, this was done with great imagery in the physical sense wherewith you took the feelings and emotions and turned them into descriptively physical pain. Very well. I think the idea for your mask poems is great and you should (truly) write more.
This was an actual experience for you? You took your feelings and moulded them unto the page, yes? Very interesting, very descriptive. I liked it a lot.
My favourite stanza was the sixth where you were brought out into the open the truth of who you really were.
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. And yeah. My best poems tend to come when I’m actually feeling the thing I’m trying to write about. Or rather… that is when I sit down and actually write them.