Five-Ply Mask

By Shashwat Shukla

My mask....it has 5 plies

5 layers, one beneath the other

To protect and guard

And hide and prevent

And inhibit and gag

What lies inside

The first ply is acceptance

Of this new normal

To put on a brave face

And keep my chin up

And keep my grace

Beneath it is sorrow

At all that’s happened

For all who’ve been taken

For souls that have sickened

And paled and rotten

At the centre is hope

More a bargain and a lie

That all will be good

That all will be returned

That those walking burnt

Shall find holier wood

Beneath hope is ire that

Looks for a release

But knows not where

And so comes back to me

Like a tired migrant returns

With nothing to show but her scars

Beneath the ire is shock

That still can’t find a way

Into my conscience to announce

What’s real and what

Lies beneath the mask

Is also a part

Of my soul henceforth

What the mask protects

And guards and hides

And prevents and inhibits

And gags with all its might

Is pain

Unhinged

Bizarre

Significant

Pain

By Shashwat Shukla