the masks have to come off
for she can’t wear them anymore
each moment spent living a lie
she’s losing sight of the shore

drowning in the stories she tells herself
every single day
not a moment of respite awaits her
just another soul led astray

by the you-should’s and the you-have-to’s,
of what is expected of her
to be the good daughter, mother, wife
all the while inside, she feels herself shatter,

and every day that she tells herself
everything is going to be okay
is another day that her soul dies another death
but she’s long run out of lies to say.