The masks

The air was thick with the smells of banana bread and Lysol
Our waistlines expanded as our worlds shrank
The days merged

Politicians took off their masks, but there was nothing underneath
We saw
And they knew we saw

Our pleasant shared myths dissolved
In the whimpers and gasps of a dying empire

Life went on, broken and deformed
The ugly underbelly exposed
The threads unraveled

Playgrounds teemed with malevolence
Schools and museums remained shuttered
As the red ***** of fuzzy chaos flew