Home

Mask

by Richard Vince

It is a secret to which I am
Almost party: I know enough
To know I know nothing.

It is a skill I once thought
I had: now I know the fears
Were always there, hiding
Behind a friend more
Confident than I.

It is a paradox I know
All too well: not caring
How I seem yet unwilling
To be seen.

Perhaps I care more than
I want to believe. Perhaps
I hide because I fear
How I will be seen.

There is no logic here. It would
Be too simple to stave off
This thing called boredom
That we invent, itself a
Total defiance of logic.

It is perhaps this preference
To pursue boredom that
Creates the attitude I fear.
All these people hiding from
What is different, fearing
The challenge of the unknown.

Would it be selfish to believe
I owe it to them to be
That which they seek to avoid?
This is a question I am
Afraid to answer.

This, then, is the secret that
Eludes me; that excludes me.
I know the question: how do
They know the answer?

12/16/2007

Posted on 12/17/2007
Copyright © 2024 Richard Vince

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Gabriel Ricard on 12/18/07 at 04:27 AM

I like that first stanza. I feel the exact same way.

Posted by Michelle Angelini on 12/18/07 at 04:57 AM

This sounds like a pretzel logic running around the mind, trying to convince one that everything is ok, when in reality, it might not be. Or the answers actually are known, yet are too fearful to bring into the light. Even though fear might be the underlying cause to avoid the answers, it might be more of a reluctance to see the truth about oneself. If other's know the answers, they may not have the courage to tell them to the narrator.
~Chelle~

Posted by Alison McKenzie on 12/18/07 at 04:23 PM

They don't. Believe me.

Posted by Laura Doom on 12/24/07 at 01:31 AM

Everyone knows the answer to an unasked question :> And merely asking the question can inform the recipient to a greater extent than the questioner is informed by an answer.
It is impossible to disentangle the self as seen by the self, and the self as seen by others - each feeds the other.
Boredom is the point at which one should be asking questions of oneself.
However misguided my conclusions, I can't deny this piece dispersed any clouds of boredom that might have been masking the horizon :> An engaging unveiling of that which can't be seen...

Return to the Previous Page
 

pathetic.org Version 7.3.2 May 2004 Terms and Conditions of Use 0 member(s) and 2 visitor(s) online
All works Copyright © 2024 their respective authors. Page Generated In 0 Second(s)