Masquerade

Masquerade men in masks

Emotion, toil, pain,

They’ll just reach for a flask to make it all go away.

Everything to lose and nothing to gain,

They’re drowning in that pain.

Masquerade men in masks.

The world goes numb and fades away

Wondering if they’ve been led astray.

Just waiting and praying and fading away

Masquerade men in masks

They let nobody show them the sun

Why did they throw the sun away?

The dark defeats the day.

Masquerade men in masks.

Why do they wither 

Why do they let themselves shiver?

Is it the mask?

Is it their past?

Masquerade men in masks.

***

“Just do it!”

“You don’t understand. You can’t-”

“Why not?”

“You’ve never-”

“Worn a mask?”

***

Two people in the room with a button between them.

A woman of the sun and a man of the dark

Does he not know everyone wears a painful mark?

That masquerade man in a mask.

But she’ll never know the fight to hide

A losing battle, from the inside.

***

“Clarisse, you need to leave.” 

“Not before you press it.”

“Do you know what that would mean for my people?”

“The masquerade would be over. You would be free.”

“Free?”

***

Is freedom behind the mask?

Destroying his past?

All so that they could see

Those masquerade men in masks.

To destroy the masks is to destroy that past

Of hiding behind the stage.

But open the curtains and what will you see?

Those masquerade men at last.

***

“These people are dying, Jonathan! They can’t breathe!”

“Since when have we needed to breathe! We’ve gotten this far!”

“For what? Where have you gotten? All you have done your entire life is hide. You and everyone else hiding with you. Press this button and all of that will disappear. The world’s masks will be gone. It will just be you and me.”

***

But will they live to see it?

When the party ends and the lights go dim

Who will still be whole?

Take away the powder,

Wash off the face,

Take off that mask you long to embrace.

And who remains but one so somber?

The masquerade has long been over.

***

“‘Screw your courage to the sticking place!’”

“I am not Macbeth!”

“No you’re not. You’re a scared little boy worried about facing the real world.”

“This is real. You don’t know what you’re asking me to do.”

“I’m asking for my friend back.”

***

Kings, Queens sit on their throne laughing at the jester,

They don’t know who he is

Don’t even care

It’s what keeps them from the world’s scares.

The dancing man in a mask,

See how he jokes,

See how he chokes.

The dancing man in a mask.

But no ones knows him,

Not even himself

That jester of the court.

That jokester of his hope.

***

“You never lost me, Clarisse.”

“I did as soon as you took your face away.”

“I made it better.”

“You destroyed it. And yourself. Now press the button and come back to me.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

***

The woman without a mask.

See how she runs,

Soaking up the sun.

How does she let them see her?

What if they laugh?

What if they trash the way she seems to smile?

Isn’t it safer?

Isn’t it kinder?

To hide behind the sun?

***

“Jonathan, It’ll be okay.”

“No! No! Maybe for you, maybe for you. Me? No. No. Do you know what you’re asking of me?”

“Push the button and take it off.”

***

Take it off.

Take it off.

Take it off.

The words echo in the mind.

Isn’t it some kind of crime?

To dance under the sun?

What if he stumbles?

What if he fails?

Everyone would see him cry.

The masquerade man in a mask.

***

“If you fall. I fall with you, Jonathan.”

“I’d be tearing you down with me.”

“No, you’d be saving us both.”

***

They could cry together,

The mask and the maiden.

Dancing under the sun.

But the sun is so fickle?

What if it sets?

Would the dark reclaim him?

Would the mask still save him?

***

“I’m scared, Clarisse. I’m scared.”

“So am I. So am I. But we don’t have a choice.”

“It’s my choice.”

“It might be your life, Jonathan, but you haven’t even started to live it. Press the button and live.”

***

Was he not living?

Can you live in the dark?

Without the moon, without the sun,

Come back my sun

Show me the way.

It won’t be the same

Without those masquerade men in masks.

***

“We’re running out of time.”

“I know.”

“Do you? I’m trying to save you.”

“You’re trying to take away my life.”

“I’m trying to give it back to you.”

“You’re evil.”

“I’m you.”

***

The masquerade man and the girl in the sun

See how they fight.

Round and round

The dark and the night

Never realizing they are the same.

The halves of the heart,

The sacred and the brave

Who won this race?

***

“I can’t push it.”

“You can.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Even if it destroys me?”

“Especially if it does.”

***

Destroy the dark and come into the light.

Shed that masking skin.

I could be real.

I could be me.

Only if I leave

That masquerade man in a mask.

***

“I’ll do it.”

“Do it.”

“But what if-”

“The button.”

“If only-”

“The only choice.”

“I can’t.”

“Push the unmasking button!”

“Okay.”

***

The angel and the devil sitting on his shoulder.

To let go of all that is known,

To go into the light.

Will he be happy?

Will he be sacred?

The masquerade man in a mask.

***

“One.”

“Almost there!”

“Two.”

“Show us who you are!”

“Three!”

“Find out who you are.”

***

Goodbye to the mask.

Goodbye to the past.

See how he runs,

He finally sees the sun.

No more masquerade men in masks.