Poetry
Select verse from an upcoming book of poetry by Ted Onulak.
The Masks We Wear
Like a tender leaf
It unfolded
The face I know as my own
Innocent and curious
It cried over things beyond my grasp
And smiled when I was safe and warm
But slowly a mask began to form
With every do and don’t
Innocence in time was lost
As a casualty of war
Questions became secret thoughts
Hidden by the mask that kept me safe and warm
Behind the mask
My Self still grew
Like a butterfly in its armored shell
Waiting for the light of day
In this sheltering chrysalis
Uncomfortably safe and warm
At last from this prison freed
From which within I gnawed
To take my place among living things
In this vast, mysterious world
To fly by routes that were my own
Through both the flowers and the thorns
The mask in time
Would turn to dust
And would scatter in the wind
The mask that once kept me
So safe and warm
Was not needed any more