We Wear the Mask [German translation]

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It shades our cheeks and hides our eyes—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should that world be overwise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, oh my God, our cries

To Thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh, the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world think otherwise,

We wear the mask.

• Artist:Paul Laurence Dunbar