The fallen mask

  

I lift shards of cracked mask

It fell off in a weak moment 

I persisted with my smile 

Hiding behind the perturbed look

The silt of vice settled within 

While I mingled into worldly ocean

The pretence of unblemished virtue 

Like the tides erupted on façade

While stealthily the deception fell back

Into the new depth of my placid bed 

Till the time my eyes could overflow

With the pent up brine within 

The mask was so wonted to mendacity

It could not hold the flowing emotion

And fell off insolently  in a glaring throng 

I was expected to smile then with the crowd 

Here I was full of audacious tears 

Startled,  I knelt to pick the shattered face

And lo ! The mask was transparent all over

 I had been  comfortable to hide myself  behind it

While my inner designs were stark visible 

Amidst the debris of my founded belief 

Lay the reflection of haunting eyes from behind

And I could see the treasures of my depth

Glitter in the piercing beam through the shadow

Of a fallen crown and a doused halo .

Delhi.

2190

23.24 hrs

12.4.25