Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

              We Wear the Mask

    WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
    It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
    This debt we pay to human guile;
    With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
    And mouth with myriad subtleties.

    Why should the world be over-wise,
    In counting all our tears and sighs?
    Nay, let them only see us, while
            We wear the mask.

    We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
    To thee from tortured souls arise.
    We sing, but oh the clay is vile
    Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
    But let the world dream otherwise,
            We wear the mask!

 As we enter into the season of fall, with our masks and carved pumpkins, let us reflect on the masks that we wear and remember that God can see what lies behind the mask.  We can hide nothing from our Lord.  Thanks be to God for loving and accepting us “just as we are.”