We Wear the Mask

Paul Lawrence Dunbar

(1872-1906)

We wear the maks 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 the myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be otherwise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Chirst, 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.