A Masquerade
Filing in by threes and twos
Colorful dresses and tattoos
Each wears a mask and no one knows
The concealed reality of the faces unknown
Laughing and giggling down they dance
Flirting and snorting on they prance
Never once do they stop to ask
What truly lies behind those gaudy masks
Into the night, the absence of light
“Continue the ball!” they presume it alright
The hollow laughs, the hollow smiles
You would think it would tire them after a while
Sparkles and beads and feathers and glitter
Flashes of lights and outbursts of laughter
The striking of midnight sadly ends the ball
And they never once took off their masks after all
Filing out by threes and twos
Colorful dresses and tattoos
Each wears a mask and no one knows
The concealed reality of the faces unknown
So tell me, dear reader
Is your life –
A Masquerade
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This poem describes the masquerade as an act. The masked dancers are dressed in flashy, flamboyant garments. Throughout the entire night, they drink, dance, laugh, and play. Everything they do is just a game, with nothing genuine in their hearts. Behind those masks – those hollow laughs – those shallow flirtations, lies their true selves. The front they put on is just a way they try to control what others know about their real selves.
In the last stanza, after the speaker [me] describes the entire masquerade, he [or she in this case :D] turns to the reader. Is your life a masquerade? Are you walking around in life wearing a “mask” and controlling how much people know about your true self? Is the life you’re living just an act, or are you willing to pull off that mask you’ve been wearing your entire life – to reveal your beautiful self – as ugly as you may think it is…