E-12..The Masked Lover. Poem by samyak jain

got stymied perhaps
by the revelation
that
i am not what
you thought i was

that
i wear a mask
which actually
is a mask
of pretension,
of facetiousness,
of steel fist
in a velvet glove.

no, sweetheart, no
if at all there is
a blessings in disguise,
that is what
this mask provides.

beneath the mask
i have buried thousands
of pains,
stifled uncountable
sighs,
many more
little streams of tears
lost their ways
in the quicksands of this mask,

all these pains and
pleasures
had i shown you,
you would have lauded
my unpretentiosness,
but i would have been
shown a shallow man.

shallower would have been
damned my deep love
for you.


...atp
30.08.2007.