We play this game,
The game of life.
Where people hide
Behind their masks.

You tore my first layer away.
You found out my name.
I tried to hide myself away
But still I'm found again.

We wear our masks
To hide our past
And maybe hide our lust.
And we hide those demons
Deep inside of us.

The masks
Full of complexity
They help cover
Our identity.

But they don't ever last
They get
Torn
Ripped
Burned out fast
Or simply melt
When the chill subsides.

And everything beneath
Those layers and layers
Of masks you wear
Has to face the world again.

Reading random poems today
Everyone claims they feel so broken
But no,
Those are just lies.

Deep in my heart
I know I see
Who's really broken
And who's not.

Maybe you really feel this way
But life has not thrown you
Buckets of icy water
Leaving you to freeze alone.

You don't know what
Being broken
Really feels like
Do you?

Because you haven't lost someone so close to you
That death
Led a domino
Crashing on everything around.

Or anything that's swung your life
Like a pendulum
And the aftermath
Keeps going on.

If such things never did haunt you before,
Then no,
That's just the verge of brokenness.
You've haven't faced the magnitude.

I'll tell you
Nothing really beats
Watching
Your own brother
Trapped in his body.

His eyes long to see again
But all there's left is emptiness.
His mouth longs to move again
But he can say never a word.
His legs long to walk again
But all his limbs have stiffened up.

And there's nothing I can really do
For many years did this plight last
Each day I'm helpless
Wishing I could drag you out of that hard shell.

I've always been this person
Deep inside me
Bursting with thoughts
Undying passion
Lies in me.

But sometimes
You have to be someone else
To be the poet you want to be
To let out those thoughts
Bursting way up there.