We Wear The Mask

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile ¹ ;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad ² subtleties ³ . 

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile ⁴

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world think other-wise,

We wear the mask!

This poem is also available as a PDF.

Poet Maya Angelou adapted Dunbar's "We Wear the Mask" in a spoken-word poem.

• 1guile : deceitful, sly.
• 2myriad : many.
• 3subtleties : meanings; can be meanings that are difficult to define.
• 4vile : gross, immoral.