Behind Your Mask

Share the pain I see
Hidden behind your mask;
Expose yourself in naked clarity
To those who have harmed the secret you
Enveloped in mimed smiles.

Share the pain I feel
Hidden behind your mask
The sorrow I see furrowed
in your brow and etched
in permanent heart creases that
outline your suffering eyes.

Share the pain I hear
Hidden behind your mask
The silent screams that you trap
deep inside you when you cringe
from words hurled by those
you could never learn to love.

Share the pain I touch
When you shrink from
kindness in my hands.
Those whose words lashed at the you
hidden behind your mask of sensitivity
Cannot harm you in the
Safety of my arms.

Share the love I sense
Hidden behind your mask
and crushed by the weight
of others' words.
Let me pour my sensitivity
as a healing salve to comfort you
when your brothers' stings have scorched
your soul.

Share the you I love
Hidden behind our masks.