Secret Masks

When her friend told her, “I love your body,
You are so slender and can eat anything!"
She smiled. How was her friend to know
That she used to be fat and decided to go on a special diet,
That now everything she eats she pukes into the toilet.

When the MP told them, "I want to go to parliament
to represent you, to look after your interests."
The people voted. How were they to know that
the politician would organise killings
and work only to safeguard his interests

When he told her, "you are so beautiful
I like your African figure,
Your big hips, your big breasts
Let me take you home tonight!"
How was he to know that she had HIV?

When they told her, “sorry for your loss,
He was such a good man, a gentleman
Always taking care of the family and protecting them!"
How were they to know that she was happy
He was dead as he had beaten and abused her all their married life.

When her friends found out that she was expecting
And asked her who the father was,
Teasing her on whose child it could be,
She ran off in tears. How were they to know that
Her father sexually abused her and made her pregnant.

When i walk past you, and smile, you say hallo and i say hi back.
We laugh and talk about superficial things,
Yet we don’t say what’s really on our minds
I don’t know what you are hiding under your smiling mask
and you also don’t know what I’m hiding under mine.

© rayhab wangari 2009