Reflections

Whose face is this you are wearing?
Behind what facade are you now hiding ?

I knew you well once, long ago,
when you wouldn't have thought twice to let go
this fogged veil, this opaque veneer,
behind which you now seem to disappear.

Is it my folly I let drops of time grow into this ocean between us?
Why is it that I walk miles, when just feet separate us?

This silence, once our understanding through words uttered not,
is now between us clamoring for expressions you forgot.
Your feigned taut smiles are decidedly plastic,
the unpretended awkwardness too caustic.

I peel these layers, one by one, hoping for a spark of recognition,
you present me yet another form unreal, yet another apparition.
While disbelief slowly creeps into my mind,
you watch my desperation, being unkind.

Tired, I beg to see the face behind the mask,
"Is that what you really want?", you finally ask.

Like a magician divulging his ruse, you uncover layer by layer
revealing first an artist's muse, then a lover's betrayer;
then, a bard's final idyll before an audience fiend,
a devotee's unrelenting idol, and a long lost friend.

As you draw even nearer, an image is reflected,
growing ever clearer,bearing a face unsuspected;
in solitude's mirror, I only find myself
staring back at the void between me and my Self.