Curtain Call

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,

And just when you think you have perfected a role, strings are pulled, scene changes and you're left stranded with new characters and newer masks. When do we stop wearing these masks?
Of a loving daughter? An obedient student? A friend in need? A bitchy teen in the second row? A ruthless competitor in hop-scotch?

Face paints and fancy dresses rule our lives. We walk in and out of stages; varying performances to kinder reviews and scathy critiques and show business makes us forget ourselves. Or maybe we never were meant to remember much.

And at some point as we shuffle between roles, the mask falls and in the new light creeping in through a crack in the curtain someone notices you…the plain face devoid of all paint…the little girl behind the daughter, student and friend.

But you can’t stop to relish that moment.

You bend and pick up your mask and with one last look at those eyes you disappear into the darkness. The little girl will soon be wife, mother and daughter. And the meeting - nothing but an unseen dream. There is no longer any 'Me' left...just the 'You' already defined. I am the 'You', you want to see.

I'm your dream, make you real
I'm your eyes when you must steal
I'm your pain when you can't feel
Sad but true

I'm your truth, telling lies
I'm your reasoned alibis
I'm inside open your eyes
I'm you
Sad but true

(Metallica, Sad but True)