pretense
the cost of pretense
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The Cost of Pretense
You polish the mask
until it blinds you.
The mirror smiles back,
but no one else does.
Honest hands
slip away from your grasp,
tired of holding
what isn’t there.
The joke you rehearsed
falls flat in the silence.
And when the lights go out,
you pay the price alone—
a face unrecognizable,
a name no longer yours.
.
