Hello PoetryVoting

Vote

Voting-Boards

Home

HomeFollowingInboxNotifications

Read

ReadLiftedFeedsHeartedHistoryMy poemsNew poem

Explore

ExploreOrbitsWordsTagsClassics
Log in
0
Stars
0
Embers
0
Alerts
0
Inbox

Vote

Voting-Boards

Home

HomeFollowingInboxNotifications

Read

ReadLiftedFeedsHeartedHistoryMy poemsNew poem

Explore

ExploreOrbitsWordsTagsClassics
Log in
0
Stars
0
Embers
0
Alerts
0
Inbox

How Many?

How Many…

How many people are happy

How many wear a mask

How many have to make a smile

A constant daily task

 

How many wish like I do

That if they could only be

Someone else entirely

They’d be happy, they’d be free

 

A hundred different people

With a different mask of each

How many feel that happiness

Is always out of reach

 

How many of the people

That I see every day

Put on the mask because they should

But really feel this way

 

If only we could realise

We wear our masks to cope

Because we know a smile shared

Will always give us hope

 

Hope that one day the smile is real

And acceptance they can find

Hope that happiness is up ahead

And sadness is behind

 

We know that we should shed our masks

To join with all the rest

But we’ll never be quite brave enough

Till we feel we are our best

 

And therein lies the problem

As behind the mask we know

We’ll never feel like we’re the best

While we all feel so low

 

And so we go around and round

Never coming close to peace

An endless circle of pain and doubt

We know will never cease

 

How many people are happy

How many wear a mask

We’ll never know the truth of it

Because we never ask

Request permission to use this poem
z
Written by
zoe-karenza-gadsby
English
Published
Jun 13, 2012
Lines·Words
41·228
Permission

Request to use this poem

Tell zoe-karenza-gadsby how you would like to use it. We review requests before forwarding them.

AboutBlogFAQPrivacyTermsContact
© 2009-2026 Hello Poetry/v27.0 by @eliotyork
Explore
Hello PoetryVoting
Write