They say life's a stage and we are its players.

Well, I'm putting my mask on to fool the crowd.

A smile on the outside, painted bright;

but behind the spotlights, behind the facade,

when the curtain is closed, Mt. St. Helens erupts.

Emotions overflow, tears cleanse the heart's pains.

Only the blank pages see me undisguised.

The pen I may grasp, but the sorrows

transcribe the emotion into words, words into phrases,

phrases into Beauty.

New life is breathed into release.

What once was pain is now a lyric.

My mouth may be silent, but the poem sings the song

of my soul's entanglements.

Thoughts no longer bottled up, but now set free,

waiting to be tossed in the sea of vulnerabilities.