Masks: a poem

By DANICA SILAN
Staff Writer

I cannot see you anymore.
There is a monstrous barrier between us.
I can no longer tell if your smile is genuine or if you are even smiling at all.
You have let other people’s words influence how you act towards me.
I cannot see your face.

Instead, I am staring right at your mask.

You let your problems cloud your vision.
You have put up what you believe to be a strong front, but I know that you are feeling weak.
You fool others, who see you for something that you are not.
You are not fooling me.

Take off your mask.

I miss seeing the real you.
I need to talk to you, not your try-hard facade.

The worst part is that you urged me to take off my own mask when you saw that I was not my usual self.
Turns out I was able to take off my mask.
It hurts to see that you would not do the same for me.