Worn Layers Poem by Mohammad Hossein

Behind the mask, what do you see,
The future you seek or the deep dark see?
Reflections whisper secrets cold,
Stories that eyes have never told.
The mirror cracks but still you gaze,
Through fractured glass and splintered days,
What hand removes the veil you wore
Your own, or time's relentless shore?
Perhaps the mask is all we are,
No hidden truth, no distant star,
Just layers worn till threads grow thin,
The outside world, the world within.