THE MASK I ( SOME ) WEAR

[Linda Scott]

                                              DON'T BE FOOLED BY ME.

Don't be fooled by the face I wear for I wear a mask. 

A mask that I sometimes don't take off,  and, it is not me.

But, don"t be fooled, for YAH'S sake, don't be fooled.

I give YAH the impression that I'm secure

That all is sunny and unruffled with me within as well as without,

that confidence is my name and coolness my game.

That the waters calm and I'm in command, and that I need no one.

BUT DON'T BELIEVE ME YAH, PLEASE

My surface may be smooth but my surface is my mask.

Beneath lies no smugness, no complacence.

Beneath dwells the real me, sometimes in confusion, in fear, in aloneness.

But I sometimes hide this

I didn't want YAH to know it.

That"s why I created my masks

They're nonchalant, sophisticated facades 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's followed by acceptance, and it's followed by Love.

It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself from my own walls.

I dislike mask, honestly

I dislike the superficial game it portrays, the superficial phony game.

I'd really like to be genuine and me,

But I need your help YAH, your hand to hold

Even though my mask would tell you otherwise

That glance from You is the only thing that assures me of what I can't assure myself.

That I'm really worthy of YAH's Acceptance.

But, I don't always tell YAH this.

So, I sometimes wear my mask, with a facade of assurance without, and a trembling child within.

Sometimes I idly chatter to you in surface talk, I tell You everything thatt's nothing, & nothing of what's everything, of what's crying within me.

Please listen carefully to what I'm not saying & hear what I'd like to say, but what I sometimes  don't say

The nearer YAH approach me, the stronger I become.

Some wonder who I am, they shouldn't for I am everywoman who wears a mask.

Don't be fooled by me, at least not by the mask I wear.