Friday 29 June 2007

The mask i wear poem

I found this and in honour of the next daughters meeting i thought i would post it. It was written by a psychiatrist in Calafornia.

The Mask I Wear

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
For I wear a mask. I wear a thousand masks-
masks that I'm afraid to take off
and none of them are me.
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me
but don't be fooled, for God's sake, don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure
That all is sunny and unruffled with me
within as well as without,
that confidence is my name
and coolness my game,
that the water's calm
and I'm in command,
and that I need no one.
But don't believe me. Please!

My surface may be smooth but my surface is my mask,
My ever-varying and ever-concealing mask.
Beneath lies no smugness, no complacence.
Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in fear, in aloneness.
But I hide this.
I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weaknesses
and fear exposing them.
That's why I frantically create my masks
to hide behind.
They're nonchalant, sophisticated facades
to help me pretend,
To shield me from the glance that knows.
But such a glance is precisely my salvation,
my only salvation, and I know it.

That is, if it's followed by acceptance,
and if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself
from my own self-built prison walls

I dislike hiding, honestly
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing,
the superficial phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and me.
But I need your help, your hand to hold
Even though my masks would tell you otherwise
That glance from you is the only thing that assures me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.

But I don't tell you this.
I don't dare.
I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh
and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing,
that I'm just no good
and you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate, pretending game
With a facade of assurance without,
And a trembling child within.
So begins the parade of masks,

The glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that's nothing
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying
Please listen carefully and try to hear
what I'm not saying
Hear what I'd like to say
but what I can not say.

It will not be easy for you,
long felt inadequacies make my defenses strong.
The nearer you approach me
the blinder I may strike back.
Despite what books say of men, I am irrational;
I fight against the very thing that I cry out for.
you wonder who I am
you shouldn't
for I am everyman
and everywoman
who wears a mask.
Don't be fooled by me.
At least not by the mask I wear.




I really like this poem, it describes alot of how i feel.

16 comments:

onix said...

I took your link on blogger.
Who is the you , you need, the poem makes me wonder.
The other i suppose,
I like compact poetry:

Wear a mask wear a thousand masks, i shiver
inside me i stand out for not being alone;)

Anyhow. Nice that you profile your concerns like this.
Hope you dont mind i commented.

~*~*~ Iona ~*~*~ said...

no i dont mind

Gill said...

i like the poem, and i like you!

Unknown said...

good stuff babe. xx

Anonymous said...

i have been looking for this poem for two years now, I lost it and now its found :D...thanks

Anonymous said...

Hii! I'm from Wales too! I saw the link on google. Amazing poem BTW.

xx

Mike Giardino said...

Hi, you don't know me but i found this poem and i hope you don't mind but i posted it on my blog.
Let me know if that's all right or not and i'll take it down.
But i just want to thank you for this, i truly needed it.

Anonymous said...

Lovely. Truly thought provoking.

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Unknown said...

It seems the plot thickens ( who wrote Please hear what I am not saying) found these on the US copy write website I also gather the library of congress is getting involved.

david
diolani@msn.com




Type of Work: Text

Registration Number / Date:
PAu000540192 / 1983-08-29

Title: Please hear what I'm not saying.

Description: 2 p.

Copyright Claimant:
Allison W. Moss

Date of Creation: 1981

Authorship on Application:
Allison W. Moss.

Names: Moss, Allison W., 1947-

================================================================================



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Library of Congress
United States Copyright Office
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000
202-707-3000



Type of Work: Text

Registration Number / Date:
PAu002141041 / 1996-12-20

Title: Please hear what I'm not saying.

Description: 2 p.


Notes: Poem.

Copyright Claimant:
Theodore R. Adams

Date of Creation: 1971

Authorship on Application:
Virgil Henry Adams, Jr., 1931-1973.

Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence.

Names: Adams, Theodore R.
Adams, Virgil Henry, Jr., 1931-1973

Unknown said...

It seems the plot thickens ( who wrote Please hear what I am not saying) found these on the US copy write website I also gather the library of congress is getting involved.

david
diolani@msn.com




Type of Work: Text

Registration Number / Date:
PAu000540192 / 1983-08-29

Title: Please hear what I'm not saying.

Description: 2 p.

Copyright Claimant:
Allison W. Moss

Date of Creation: 1981

Authorship on Application:
Allison W. Moss.

Names: Moss, Allison W., 1947-

================================================================================



++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Library of Congress
United States Copyright Office
101 Independence Ave., S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000
202-707-3000



Type of Work: Text

Registration Number / Date:
PAu002141041 / 1996-12-20

Title: Please hear what I'm not saying.

Description: 2 p.


Notes: Poem.

Copyright Claimant:
Theodore R. Adams

Date of Creation: 1971

Authorship on Application:
Virgil Henry Adams, Jr., 1931-1973.

Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence.

Names: Adams, Theodore R.
Adams, Virgil Henry, Jr., 1931-1973