Poems

Disguise

Everyone has a disguise

You can see it in their eyes

Break through all the lies

The hidden you will find

When dust, it burns aflame

And ashes take the place

In the shallow pool we wade

Gone tomorrow, here today

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Often when I post a poem full of metaphors, people ask me what was going through my head when I wrote it, or they ask about the symbolism. This time, you don't have to ask because I'm giving a direct translation:

Everyone has a disguise

          When people feel bad about themselves, they pretend to be someone they're not.

You can see it in their eyes

          They are still themselves. You just have to search for who they are and you will see little hints of their true selves. 

Break through all the lies. The hidden you will find.

          They may lie to make themselves seem more interesting, but break through the lies and and you will find out who they really are and why they're hiding who they are.

When dust, it burns aflame. And ashes take the place.

          When you burn dust, you only get ashes. This means that the person you're pretending to be is no better than who you really are.

In the shallow pool we wade

          Society as a whole is far too shallow. We need to focus more on being oursleves and less on conforming to who society feels we need to be.

Gone tomorrow, here today

         As children, we don't really have a filter, so we're oursleves. But as we grow older, we gradually try to conform to who society feels we should be rather than who we are.

When I wrote this, I had just finished reading a book in which a girl pretends to be who she's really not. She lies to make herself seem cool, acts like she normally wouldn't, and dresses like she normally wouldn't. When I read this, it really inspired me to write a poem about how society pressures people into being someone they're not. The message of this poem is be yourself.