Changing Face: Many Faces Behind Poem by ashok jadhav

(A figure stands alone, slowly moving their hands across their own face as if peeling away layers, voice shifting between calm, tension, and revelation.)

Do you see me?
Or do you see what I allow you to see?
This face… this single face…
It is a mask, a fragment, a shadow of the truth.
Behind it, there are many others,
Faces I wear like clothes,
Some stitched from hope, some torn from fear,
Some painted in laughter, some carved in grief.
Each face tells a story I cannot fully share,
Each one hides a secret I cannot let go.
And yet… I must wear them all,
For the world demands a single expression,
A single version of me it can understand,
While my soul… my soul is a thousand reflections,
Shifting, flickering, never still.
I am the calm face, the smiling face,
The confident face, the frightened face,
The forgiving face, the vengeful face…
And each one waits its turn to be seen,
Even when none of them are truly me.
Do you think you know me?
Do you think you can hold me in your gaze?
No.
You only see the surface.
You only see the mask I let you touch.
Behind it…
There is a storm of faces,
A chorus of selves,
A world I carry silently…
And still, I move forward,
Wearing them all,
Because survival demands it,
Because truth… real truth… is far too many for one face.