I felt ashamed when I realized that, in fact

I felt ashamed when I realized that, in fact, Life is a masquerade party, where I stood without a mask, I wandered with my uncovered face beneath the chandeliers, Among specters and shadows hiding their secrets under false veneers. In a vast hall, where echoes were hushed, I, with my raw sincerity, like a secretive flush, Watched them waltz, twirling in a tune’s embrace, Their masks softly glinting under the lights and disgrace. Alive, beneath their mask, was an unwritten story, Hidden deep, like a treacherous wound, in all its fiery glory, I looked, feeling the shame grow climatically within, When I understood that unmasking was my only sin. Looking at my empty palms, the missing rings, Fear embraced me as if I were weaving illusions, not real things, In this gathering, where no one is what they seem, I now fear that without a mask, I'm a rare being on this dream’s seam. It’s strange on this stage to be the only authentic actor, Not wearing the same charm as the elastic imposters, They play scripts they have no intention to write, While I bleed dreams on the planks, in an act of bravery, without hypocrisy, stark and bright. It’s hard to understand that, indeed, people adore the ball, They dance a fake tango, a feigned happiness they install, But I am bare, transparent, unmade-up, and warm, I’ve revealed my heart in rhythms of undiluted sincerity’s form. And the shame I feel blooms in my chest like a wound, Seeing how everyone wears makeup and they seem to me so misaligned, I now long to wear a mask too, though I’d be just a feather, Flying through the vast halls, where facades dance together, all tethered. I leave the party, thoughtful and with a leaden silence, I retreat behind the curtains of night, to watch the stars, the moon's dalliance, And yet, in my discreet darkness, I hope to find her, Who, maybe, also hides behind a mask, waiting to lay it aside, to be surer. Should I return, don a mask, or remain with an open face? Should I play a role or always be raw and unchased? I watch as the dawn unfolds and The Question within me remains unresolved, While the rising sun illuminates an actor with body and soul unaltered.