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 other-wise,
We wear the mask!

 

Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet. Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of ex-slaves. Although he lived to be only 33 years old, Dunbar was popular with both black and white readers. His works are celebrated today by scholars and school children alike and taught in high schools across the country.

Click here to listen to the poem:
http://www.udayton.edu/~dunbar/poem1.htm

Click here to learn more about Paul Laurence Dunbar:
http://www.udayton.edu/~dunbar/

 

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