Sometimes we hand ourselves

Over to violence

As if in punishment

For crimes we did not commit.

And they will tell us

When someone shows you

Who they are behind their mask,

You should believe them the first time.

But we never do.

So will I believe you the second

Third or fourth time you let your mask slip?

How long does it take

To realize that you're falling

For the same lies

You told yourself as a child?

We all have our blind spots in life.

You lived in mine so long

With that same old, tired dance and song,

But now that I see what’s behind the mask,

I can never unsee.

Will I ever be free

From a life lived merely to survive

This game of lies?

I've been surrounded

By people covered in hard scaled armor

My entire life,

So I didn't realize there was any other way to be.

Will I hang myself at the alter

Of these unrealized sins?

Or will I find a better way to live?

I still have to look in the mirror

To prove to myself that underneath my mask,

*I* still exist.