We Wear the Mask
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
"We Wear the Mask" is Dunbar's most famous poem in standard English (as opposed to his dialect verse). Written in 1896, it speaks to the experience of African Americans who must hide their pain and anger behind a facade of contentment. The poem's power lies in its universality — while rooted in the specific experience of Black Americans in the post-Reconstruction era, its theme of concealed suffering resonates across cultures and centuries. It remains one of the most frequently taught poems in American schools.
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, 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 dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!