The Mask

Do you synthesize your anger,
 do you cauterize the burn

Do you anesthetize the wonder,
  when your dreams are drugged and scorned

Is your judgment tempered badly,
  with emotion fiery hot

Is your vision colored madly,
  by your choices—sold and bought

Does your music play reclusive,
 do your words fall off the page

Does reason kill your last excuse,
—that one mask you can’t explain

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)