Masked and Unmasked

Unasked, Unmasked

Always a mask
Held in the slim hand, whitely,
Always she had a mask before her face -
Smiling and sprightly,
The mask.

For years and years I wondered
But dared not ask.

And then -
I blundered.
I looked behind the mask,
To find
Nothing -
She had no face.

She had become
Merely a hand
Holding the mask
With grace.

- Helen Joseph ' The Mask'
Sunday Review, 13 August 1932

There comes a midnight hour when all must unmask.

- Soren Kirkegaard