Holding On While Letting Go

Playing Pretend (sequel to Mirrors and Masks)

Playing Pretend (sequel to Mirrors and Masks)

I've been wearing this mask for so long

It seems like a real part of me

But it isn't

It never will be

Only recently have I removed it

I've often forgotten that I've been wearing it

But as it is pulled away

I almost don't recognize that girl in the mirror

Has it really been that long

Since I last saw my own face?

Or is it even mine?

I've been pretending for years

It needed to be removed

That mask of everything I say I am

Everything I pretend to be

Total revelation

Unclear who I face

There's only a trace

Barely a lead

To who I used to be

I've been playing dress-up all this time

Forgetting about it for years

But now since I've remembered that I've forgotten

I'm dying of curiosity

Who was I really?

Who was I ever?

Was there anything more to me

Than this mask I put on years ago?

I've been claiming to be something else

Something more, something I'm not

All this time

I've been lying to myself

Looking for solutions to this puzzle,

I pick up long-lost, dust-covered pieces

Hoping to piece it all together

Before I fall apart

My past is a ghost

Haunting me

Whatever it was, it scares me

For I fear I will never know

Who was I before this game?

Just playing pretend? Dressing up?

Hiding?

For my true self, I seek

It's agonizing to think

That I was ever something different

Was I ever more than who I say I am?

Someone please say something, because I can't tell...