Mask Versus Reality Poem by ashok jadhav

I wear a smile like armor on my face,
A mask that bends to fit the world outside;
It hides the tremors time cannot erase,
The thoughts I guard where only heart resides.
Beneath the mask, a shadow moves and breathes,
A self untamed by etiquette or guise;
It speaks in silence, whispers what it weaves,
And waits for someone brave enough to rise.
The mirror tells the tale I seldom show,
A double life of seeming and of true;
Yet in the quiet, I begin to know
The strength to let the hidden self shine through.
Reality and mask may intertwine,
But truth grows slow, and ultimately is mine.