When the Mask Slides Away

I wrote this after a long phone conversation with someone who was once a close friend. This person was in my life at a very confusing time, and I placed him on a pedestal that, admittedly, he didn't deserve. But when someone is your best friend, martial arts instructor and giving you a place to live, well, there's a compromise that has to be reached.

Unfortunately, it was all one way.

After the inevitable parting of ways, we didn't speak for almost 20 years. Flash forward to 2006, and I start putting my videos on youtube. My "friend" saw some of these, and got in touch with me...And I realized he hadn't changed a damn bit in 20-odd years.

I don't normally title poems, but this one's called "When the Mask Slides Away"

There’s nothing left to say
There’s no debt left to pay
We’re even now, we can walk away

The price a friendship costs
The bitter sting when it’s lost
It’s just grains of sand. We can let the past lay.

Playing for time, you lost more than you could ever find
When the mask slides away.

Living a lie you lose sight of the things you left behind
When the mask slides away.

The choices that we make
The hearts we have to break
We always hate those who we most envy

The way we used to be
The way we used to see
And what we were...Wasn't you, and isn't me

Losing the light your soul seems to take a different path
When the mask slides away.

Something inside just snaps, and you can't see the other half
When the mask slides away.

Deep in the night, and your eyes are still open wide
When the mask slides away.

Paying the price, you forget what it was you sacrificed
When your mask slides away.

You can argue all you like
I know you think you’re right
But look behind – Do you even see what you’ve lost?

Turning your back says much more than words could ever hide
When your mask slides away.

All that I’ve done and regret, at least I have gotten on with life
When my mask slid away.

All that we were has sunk into something less than us
And now it’s far too late

We’re too far along in life to ever regain that trust
We just turn away