Mask Poem by Claudia Krizay

My thoughts are hidden behind a
Stone – like mask, once unsmiling, but never weeping- as
I began my solitary walk into the darkness.
I remember the day that
I built a moat around my castle walls
Morning transformed into night and it was
On that starless night
The sun barely set and in all of its fullness, the moon never rose,
At daybreak, fog overshadowed the sun, and
It could have been because
On the same dank and sultry day
My lifelong summer came to an end.
The sun rose in the west and the earth stood still.
Torrential rain poured out
From the depths of me, and
It was upon that last day ever that
I let the world surrounding me see the storm through my startled eyes.
The screaming of the locusts, the sounds of cars racing down the highway,
The hammering of the hail upon the pavement and
The heavy footsteps of people walking outside
Could not surpass my silent though desperate cries…
The early morning fog descended
And settled around my castle walls- jet black as the
Tempest that raged behind those walls,
In which I became both the queen and the prisoner
Although-
No one would have known because
I had firmly pasted a frozen smile
Upon that stone-like mask that I donned night and day-
Everyone was too busy
Reading about the wars in the far-east and the plight of the homeless-
Nobody could see or hear the war that was rampant inside of me-
I have no home in this world; I walk alone.
Above the calling of the wild geese,
The rush hour traffic, the spattering of the rain upon the rooftops outside-
No one listens to the sound of shattering dreams because
That frozen smile-
Was just too beautiful…