There was a girl who learned to fly.
She learned at an early age,
That it's right being strong all the time.
It was her great war to wage.

So she put on a mask, with a permanent smile
and this she showed to the world.
She showed them a woman secure in herself,
never a scared little girl.

So she bounced around all the time she smiled.
She was the best at all that she tried.
And if something didn't go quite all to plan.
She'd say that it did, when she lied.

So she sank in her spirit and dropped.
While her mask flew away and it soared.
And she clung to its image, the dazzling smile,
So she wouldn't be lost and ignored.

And she met a boy with a mask like her own.
And they fell in love with each's fake smiles.
They danced and they flew holding on tight.
And things seemed okay for a while.

But one day the smile was too much for him.
And he let the world see a frown.
And because he was sad, and she didn't know why,
She thought she was dragging him down.

And she tried and she tried to get him to smile.
But he would not replace his mask.
So she sank when alone, but in company shone.
She was fine to all who would ask.

And he wondered at this, because he was amiss
Yet she kept on her permanent grin.
So he marveled and wondered why she never talked
or understood what was bothering him.

So one day he left her, and put on his mask
and was happy for a girl who was real.
And she dropped her mask, and she went to task
showed the soft flesh under peel.

And everyone wondered on seeing her now,
"How is this the same girl as then?"
He broke her, he ruined her, he left her alone
Let's blame it all on him.

But he was back in his mask of grinning visage
pretending that all was fine
While she still cried and thought to herself
"He's gone but he used to be mine."

The mask continued to burn at his face
so he dropped it and the real girl
he needed to find a place in himself
before he could face the real world

So he dropped his mask permanently
the first girl carefully replaced
that ever-smiling effigy
upon her tear-stained face.

returning with care to the real girl
This time with mask unladed
He told the truth and called that proof
of his love for this fair maiden

And the first girl saw and wished in awe
that he had shown her all before.
So the mask her friend, her enemy
It burns her all the more

So will she be strong, in reality
and let her mask fall now
or will she be a mockery
With a mask upon her brow.

I wish her luck with her war
I fought mine and won,
I believe she has it in her too,
To see this mask undone.

01/09/2004

Author's Note: Overhauled this because the meter was extremely choppy. It reads alot better now :)

Posted on 01/09/2004
Copyright © 2024 J. P. Davies