Thousand Masks

I live in a castle of a thousand masks
where there are guests swarming all the time
cruising the halls and corridors
in-out-in-out
I greet them one by one
each time donning a different mask
yes, a different one. Each time
.based on what you ask?
on how I am related to the person in question
a dinner-mate kind--
a casual-hi kind--
a sipping-tea-with-silence kind--
an I-want-to embrace-you kind--
an I-want-to-punch-your-annoying-face kind--
all sorts of people
likewise all sorts of masks
real simple

The masks?
Oh there's a serious one
there's a joker one
there's an emo one
a sulking one, a smiling one, an innocent one
well there's one covering only part of my face
like the-phantom-of-the-opera kind?
There's even one that's near transparent

But no matter how transparent
no matter how similar the mask to my real face
(some masks are like mirrors,
unfortunately many are distorted ones,
the kind that makes you look fatter than you actually are --
like that)
So yeah
A mask's a mask
there's always a
gap, barrier, filter, shield, screen
something standing in between
you can never see what I truly am

I live in a castle of a thousand masks
We all do.