I read this Poem the other day and I
really liked it. I can sort of Identify myself with this. Anyways, here
it is maybe it means something to all of you.
Sung Hwa
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'Please Hear What I'm Not Saying".
Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear.
For
I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
Masks that I'm afraid to take off,
And
none of them is me.
Pretending is an art that's second nature to
me,
but
don't be fooled.
For
God's sake don't be fooled.
I
give you the impression that I'm secure,
That
confidence is my name and coolness is my game,
That
the water's calm and I'm in command,
and
that I need no one.
But
don't believe me.
My
surface may seem smooth but my surface
is
my mask, ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion and fear and aloneness.
But
I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I
panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide
behind,
a
nonchalant sophisticated facade, to help me pretend,
to
shield me from the glance that knows.
My
only hope, and I know it.
That
is, if it's followed by acceptance,
if
it's followed by love.
It's
the only thing that can liberate me from myself
from
my own self-built prison walls,
from
the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It's
the only thing that will assure me
that
I'm really worth something.
I
don't like to hide.
I
don't like to play superficial phony games.
I
want to stop playing them.
I
want to be genuine and spontaneous and me,
but
you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand
even
when that's the last thing I seem to want.
Only
you can wipe away from my eyes
the
bland stare of the breathing dead.
Only
you can call me into aliveness.
Each
time you're kind and gentle and encouraging,
each
time you try to understand because you really care,
my
heart begins to grow wings, very small wings,
very
feeble wings,
but
wings!
With
your power to touch me into feeling
you
can breathe life into me
I
want you to know that.
Who
am I, you may wonder.
I am
someone you know very well.
For
I am every man you meet,
and
I am every woman you meet.
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