My mask is glued

It does not come off at night

or in the shower

It does not come off.

 

I did not choose this mask

I did not choose these purple bags that rest so easily underneath my eyes

I did not choose this hair that grows so fragile

I did not choose this lying smile.

 

I also did not choose this disease

I did not choose 

how it ripped my life from me

how it tore my sanity

how it destroyed my insides inside out.

 

My mask is a shell

Not the masquerade seen at balls

Not the face to spark revolutions

No, my mask is the mask of hidden pain

 

Pain

Illness

Disease

Silence

 

What do these words hold true?

They describe my inner being

They decribe my life

They describe Crohn's Disease.

 

I will not remove my mask

Because my mask is unremovable