Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Society's mask, Society's way


There's a face that we wear in the cold light of day 
It's society's mask, it's society's way,
And the truth is that it's all a façade
There's a face that we hide till the nighttime appears,
And what's hiding inside, behind all of our fears,
Is our true self, locked inside the façade..
~Jekyll & Hide


Glimpse of his face
notice, can you, his pace
sharp, determined, hard-core
one-man-army, marching
grabbing all he can, little more.

He is boorish, ramping, very
smiles back too in hearty merry
elusive, can't get a read of him
rock in his heart, or pounding flesh
or too much water beneath the brim.


He's saint, conjoined to his schedule
blandishing, cajoling, bending some rules
to get what he wants, leaves nothing to chance
nonesuch he is, or a daimon in detail
or much talked nonsensical flimsy prance

Strange how he keeps the facade whole day
masquerade  is so tight, never he escaped
one day he was standing tall, in dark of the night
see the face marred by an antsy look
he was worried-planning about next day bright

Who was he ?
he's no one but me
at night I shed it all, mask-unmasked
free from all mistakes, anticipations
I just lie down there bare-skinned.

It's a nightmare 
We can never discard 
So we stay on our guard 
Though we love the façade 
What's behind the façade?
Look behind the façade
~Jekyll & Hide

53 comments:

  1. जिसने, जब भी, जैसा चाहा, पूर्ण कसौटी पर तौला,
    सबने अपनी राय प्रकट की, जो चाहा, जैसा बोला है।

    सुन्दर अनुनादित भाव।

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thank you Sir..
      सबने अपनी राय प्रकट की, जो चाहा, जैसा बोला है.. in total agreement with you.

      Delete
  2. Much could be behind that White Collar!

    ReplyDelete
  3. There is always that facade that is synonymous to survival in a society bound by rules and norms ... well written !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yep..
      it is almost synonymous to survival..
      thanks Amrit !!

      Delete
  4. Interesting compo! Everyone has an invisible face.`

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Jeevan...
      yes everyone does have a hidden side !!

      Delete
  5. This one is my favorite so far! How you continue to amaze me, I'll never know!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hqhq... thanks Katie :)
      that comment made me so happy :D

      Delete
  6. I love this post Jyoti. Really made me think. Yes we all have another side to us don't we...?

    ReplyDelete
  7. why is it that we have this fragmented kind of life do you think? why cant we be ourselves?

    ReplyDelete
  8. what a relief it is at the end of the day and we can just be...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess we put up with this facade because we are worried..
      we worry about people not accepting us the way we are.. and many time fear is legit.

      hehehe yeah thank god for the night to come every day :P

      Delete
  9. Truly said Jyoti. We turn mere puppets at times, glossed up with a little bit of pretense, playing our roles to the tune of the person at helm. The only way out is to quit being so or to adapt happily to the role. I wish at times if we werent bound by rules, granting us the freedom to work as we wish, but still be paid to make our ends meet! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish the same..
      not sometimes but all the times :P

      Delete
  10. Replies
    1. hehe..
      thanks to God indeed..
      for we always have a night after day :P

      Delete
  11. it's so sad when we have to hide our try self...it's exhausting to wear that mask, to play someone we're not... think no one manages on the long haul..

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  12. Wonderfully written and your words are so true. I am guilty of doing exactly that. I tend to put up a façade for the world, but when I am on my own, I am someone completely different. I don't really know why I do it. Thank you for all your kind words on my blog. You are just wonderful and brilliantly talented.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Murees..
      we all tend to have some shreds of our personality which we not feel like sharing with anyone :)

      Delete
  13. Conformity to societal norms seems to be goaded by the primordial instinct of survival. To veer away from the routine is feared to be inviting disaster thought it may pave the path to a new order and thought.

    Very well written with choicest wordcraft.

    Regards

    Geetashree

    ReplyDelete
  14. i guess that goes for everyone :P

    ReplyDelete
  15. there are masks i throw on. the key is to take them off. but are we always holding something back? if we can never, ever really know someone completely, then something is held back. but that doesn't necessarily constitute a mask. good food fer thought...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ed..
      depends on how much transparent we are :)

      Delete
  16. Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde two characters of opposite persona are immortalized by famous fiction writer L. Stevenson,represent only our own true and faked 'self'...a poem which invoke us to go for introspection!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes..
      these characters induces introspection :)

      Delete
  17. We live in such times when more than half of the things are fake. Sad but true.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful, Jyoti. We all have masks we wear. It's how we survive. Not only for the sake of societal acceptance but for our own protection. Without masks we'd be completely exposed and vulnerable. I'm not so sure we always take them off when we lay down at night. Sometimes the lines between who we really are and who we "need" to be blur.

    VR Barkowski

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes.. but only if it was easy to do..
      sometimes we fool ourselves by these masks

      Delete
  19. Beautifully-versed, Jyoti. We even fail to understand the real 'we' in us.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow. I love it! You got me thinking I don't read nearly enough poetry anymore. So gorgeous.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Very true Jyoti! We all have many hidden faces! Some might come out if we feel we'll not be judged wearing that face.

    Very practical and thoughtful writing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Valli..
      fear of being judged is one of many reasons why we wear those masks !!!

      Delete
  22. We all put masks don't we ~ How lovely to shed this off at night and just be ourselves ~ Have a lovely week ~

    ReplyDelete
  23. Pretty close to self. Interesting writeup.

    ReplyDelete

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