The Mask A poem by : Matthew Ryan Carroll I am a parasite. I am just a voice in your head. The voice you sometimes find impossible to ignore, Because I tell you what you want to hear, and show you what you want to see. I am a mirror, One that has warped and cracked in all the best ways. I take everything that you already know you are, And turn you into everything you wish you could be. I am your cloak and shield, I hide all your flaws, and your fears - Cover all your weakness and make you bulletproof. I turn you into Superman, so you can swoop in and get the girl. I am your sword, I give you boundless courage, and rapier – like wit. I take your mild mannered quiet nature, and make you a superhero – I rescue you from obscurity to be adored by your whole world. I am your own personal Hollywood director. Pay attention to what I tell ya kid, and you’re gonna go far. I make legends out of nobodies everyday I could mould balls of Clay into Muhammad Ali. And never you mind that “other” guy – The self crowned “Voice of reason” – HA! That’s just the voice of the reasons you should hide in fear, Just a coward, who’s too afraid to let you be who you want to be. I am your key, the master of locks. I hold the power of your possibilities behind countless doors. Endless options, endless choices, endless echoes of your voice screaming to be let out. An endless line of your desires held prisoner, while I hold the power to set them free. I am your mask of twisted duality. I can flaunt and reveal you, or protect and conceal you. I am your architect of an entirely different reality – One in which I can convince you and everyone else, what I want you to believe is true. Yet ironically, I cannot hide from my own reality. The terror I feel, when I realize I need to give you your due. The hollow emptiness, when I face what is painfully true. That all it takes for me to disappear and cease to exist, is the moment it takes you to see, That I am unnecessary. That YOU ARE ME, and that you don’t need the mask, to be you. Because I am a parasite. I am just a voice in your head.