The Façade

You can’t reveal my secret
Those shadows I won’t release
Conceived all gaiety
Beneath emotions that had ceased

Run up in contemplation
Entangled in my head
Smiles hide the turmoil,
No one can know the things I’ve bled

You mustn’t know my weakness
Must only see my strength
Shouldn’t ponder on the darker hues
That force me to great lengths

There’s no weariness in this mask
Or the many looks I’ve shared
The farce is self protection
Maybe even hurt that you are spared

This tempest troubled core
With which I constantly live
Is a burden of my own making
Eased by a willingness to give

Why trouble you with roughened waters?
Why force your knees to bleed?
Experiencing my suffering
Will not aid me in being freed

So you mustn’t reveal my secret
The one you’ve purged from me,
Leave the mask alone
And those shadows, let them be.