Where do you go my lovely child, when the feelings overwhelm you?
You are here yet, you are not.
Your face reflects your anguish in those few moments before
You realise your vulnerability is on display.

Slowly the changes fall into place, one by one.
Your brow becomes less furrowed and the worried look vanishes.
The mouth becomes less tight and shapes a half smile.
The jaw hardens, portraying a toughness you only pretend to possess.
The eyes, the last feature to be veiled on your beautiful, vulnerable face
Have shut in the fear of living.
Your eyes see too much and the hurt hits your heart too hard.

The mask is now complete.
The mask is now in place, the child within enscounced in a closed world.
A world I cannot enter.
Where is my precious child?

You have disappeared into a world that is safe, for a time,
While the emotions rage in your spirit, from now or before, it makes no difference.
The feelings are raw, the cut that cannot, will not, dare not heal.
The emotions are felt at the very core of your being, at the very center of your soul.

I despair. I cannot reach you there.
The light is here, I whisper to you. I can no longer breath.
There is hope, I whisper to your heart. Tears escape my eyes.
The power lies within, I whisper at your mask.

I know, you whisper back.

I don’t know how to reach your hand. I cry in anguish, I cannot see the way in.

I know, your frightened voice softly replies, I cannot see the way out.