by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906)
We wear the mask that grins and lies
Language: English
Our translations: GER
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!
About the headline (FAQ)
Text Authorship:
- by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 - 1906), "We wear the mask" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Gary Bachlund (b. 1947), "We wear the mask", 2009 [ medium voice and piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Richard Thompson (b. 1954), "We wear the mask", 1999 [ soprano and piano ], from The Shadow of Dawn: Five Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar, no. 3 [sung text not yet checked]
- by Trevor Weston (b. 1967), "The mask", 1999 [ baritone and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Wir tragen die Maske", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2009-04-05
Line count: 15
Word count: 98