HOW MANY MASKS DO YOU WEAR?

How many masks do you wear?
Love over hatred in hurts?
Smiles over disdain in pain?
Friendliness over cowardice in bruised ego?
Truth over lies in ambition?
How many masks do you wear?

II
How many masks do you wear?
How many?
You are like a rotten seed in a bleached yellow mango
Like a song without a story
Like a being without a soul
Like heaven without God
Yet you move like a tractor with unstoppable engine
Smiling with hidden teeth whose canines cry foul
How many masks do you wear?

III
Stop!
Stop the painful smiles
Stop the tearful laughters
Stop the prideful servitide
Stop hiding claws in cotton wool
How long can it last before piercing self or other?
You can push a light log deep into the river
But it stays as long as your hand can stay
And as far as your hand can reach
Why?
Because come what may oil sits on water
And not vice versa
How many masks do you wear?
Coffins know no faces unlived
They eat them all
So think to answer
How many masks do you wear?
Amoafowaa Sefa Cecilia (c) 2016