If My Heart a Mask Could Wear

 If my heart a mask could wear
A smile eternal would lie there.
Eyes accused of making merry
Which are merely flameless coal
That to all would seem to carry
The diamonds of my soul.

If the torch is dreamless
Lighting in loneliness
What can bleed no more
It will forge a tear;
For what was loved before;
What is yet held dear.

What veneer is real
When open panes conceal
Shadows laid bare
That before thee dance,
Black stars in their stare
Numbed by an inner glance?

Frosted grows the pearl flower
Laid with care in the storm
Its scent, though sick and sour
Keeps the winter twilight warm;
Lingering twilight that will not leave
The eye of the tempest that I weave
Behind the smile that I sweetly throw
O’er truths of my aurora’s glow.