Underneath those kohled eyes,

beautifully concealed to perfection,

Before stepping out,

as I picked ‘the one’ matching my attire,

the mirror smirked and said,

“Cheers! you’ve masked it officially!”

“Won’t I be vulnerable without it?”, I quipped.

“Were you ever without it?”, the mirror scoffed.

Pierced by the truth,

There I stood,

on the boulevard of perplexity!

“Don’t laugh loud, don’t cry hard,

Don’t shout it out, and as long possible,

just bear it and stay quiet!”

Ingrained across the ages,

Adjusted according to occasions,

Didn’t we ‘mask it’ through generations?

With the paradigm shift now,

How blessed I feel!

I laugh, I mock,

I choose to greet or not,

I decide to stay disguised or otherwise,

Living in paranoia,

we’ve MASKED IT, OFFICIALLY!