Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face i wear.
For i wear a thousand masks, Masks that i'm afraid to take off,
And none of them is me.
Pretending is an art that's second nature with me, but don't be
fooled, For Heaven's sake don't be fooled.
I give the Impression that i'm secure, that all is sunny and
unruffled with me, Within as well as without, That confidence is my
name and coolness my game: That the water's calm and I'm in
command, And that i need no one
But don't believe me.
Please
My surface may seem smooth, but my surface is my mask,
Beneath it lies no compliance.
Beneath dwells the real me in confusion, in fear, and aloneness.
But i hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed.
Thats why i frantically create a mask to hide behind, a nonchalant,
sophisticated
Facade, to help me pretend, to shield me from the glance
That knows.
But such a glance is precisely my salvation. My only salvation.
And i know it. That is, if it's followed by acceptence, if it's followed
by love It's the only thing that will assure me of what i can't
Aassure myself, that i'm worth something.
But i can't tell you this. I don't dare. I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance and love.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me, that you'll laugh at me,
And your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing, that i'm no good, and that
you Will see this and reject me.
So I play this game, my Desperate game, with a facade of
assurance Without and a trembling child within.
And so begins the parade of masks. And my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk. I tell you
Everything that is really nothing, And nothing of what's everything,
Of whats crying within me; so when i'm going through my routine,
Do not be fooled by what i'm saying. Please listen carfully and try
to hear what i'm not sayingWhat I'd like to be able to say, What
For Survival I need to say, But i can't say.
I dislike hiding. Honestly!
I dislike the superficial game I'm playing, The phony game.
I'd really like to be genuine and spontaneous, and me - but
you've got To help me. You've got to hold out your hand,
Even when that seems to be the last thing i want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes the blank stare of
breathing death.
Only you can call me into aliveness. Each time you're kind and
gentle, And encouraging, each time you try to understand
because you really care, My heart begins to grow wings, very
small wings, very feeble wings, -but wings. With your sensitivity
and sympathy, and your power of understanding, you can breathe
life into me. I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me, how you can be
the creator of the person that is me if you choose to.
Please choose to. You can melt the wall behind which a child
trembles. Do not pass me by. Please........Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you. A long conviction of worthlessness
builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach me, the blinder i strike back.
I fight against the very thing i cry out for.
But i am told that love is stronger that walls, and in this lies my
hope.
Please approach me with gentle hands, for a child is very
sensitive.