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We Wear the Mask
By Paul Laurence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
In America, Paul Laurence Dunbar, in his poem, We Wear the Masks, presents a different utility for masks for those of African descent. He decries that for American Blacks, masks are less ceremonial but more metaphoric, serving to cover pain and misery. Dunbar’s masks present to the world contented Black faces whilst concealing the agony of their experiences with racism and oppression in this country.
June 1872 - February 1906
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