Masquerade

Sometimes we don’t realize;
We forget to hide
Our deepest sighs
As we’re tossed back and forth
Between hello and goodbye,
Crumbling masks our only disguise.

The first time the knife broke skin
There was something deep within
That awoke, like the demon it is,
As the blood pooled
Along the newly made crease
Before spilling down his leg
Like tears of life.

He chose his leg
To hide the scars,
Claiming the fate
Of long pants
On the hottest days
Over the shame
And the blame
Held in judgmental stares
At the symbols of his pain.

What did he ever expect to gain?
It isn’t like he was “that type of person,”
But that something inside was,
The something that sleeps behind
Forced plastic smiles
And Facebook status updates
About how everything always works out;
Things we all so desperately want to believe.

And now all is midnight whispers….
Like saccharine condensation
Against the inside of eyelids,
Rubbing its sweetness against cavities
And exposed nerves screaming in pain.

He wishes the rain
Would come back again
And wash this pain
Away.