By Jude Cipher

What lies behind the faces we present to the world? In “Behind the Coded Mask,” Jude Cipher explores hidden emotional pain, fractured identity and the struggle to conceal suffering behind an appearance of composure. The poem reflects on the loneliness of wearing a mask that others cannot see through.

Behind the coded mask
Lies something unknown to many.
Outside reads composure and calm nature;
Inside is a hell hall too dark to venture.

A mask I wear to hide my lost humanity,
Covering up my complex insanity.
Broken and shattered into thousands of pieces,
Internal punishment and regret are what I deserved.

I bask not in the heartless way of cruelty,
For I’ll never be seen again in the light of divinity.
A mask coded with flexibility and sincerity
Is an abstract painting no one truly understands.

A mask coded with principality and courage;
Beneath it lurks a swirl of splattered emotions.
There’s no use in containing what’s beyond repair;
Just dump it, leave it, abandon it completely.

Let not your efforts be a complete waste of time,
But rather, let the fateful victim
Hide behind the coded mask.