The Mask.

Please Don't be fooled by me. Don't be fooled by the face I wear. For I wear a thousand masks, masks that I am afraid to take off and none of them are me.I give the impression that I am secure, and all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well as without, that confidence is my name...that the waters are calm and I am in command. But don't believe me, please. My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask. Beneath this lies real me in confusion, in fear, and aloneness. But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know. I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear of being exposed. That is why I frantically create a mask to hide behind...to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance that knows. But such a glance is precisely my salvation. My only salvation. And I know it. That is, if it is only followed by acceptance, if it is followed by love. It is the only thing that will assure me of what I can't assure myself, that I am worth something. Only you can call me into aliveness. Each time you try to understand and because you really care, my heart begins to grow wings, very small wings, very feeble wings, but wings. You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble, you alone can remove my mask. You alone can release me from my shadow world.