*We Wear The Mask*

~By: Paul Lawrence Dunbar~

We wear the mask 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 with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be otherwise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but O great Christ, 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!