No matter how many flaws we hide

No matter how much color we add

Everything flows into a mix of confusion

We do not see what lies within

We do not know how alone we really are

We blend our picture with that of others

Sometimes we let them paint our canvas

and layers form

until the weight of wrong strokes

covers who we really are

We get painted into corners

and people look at the strokes they made

doodles of themselves

thinking they were yours

These false artists get angry

Disappointed in the picture they helped to make

Seeing failure

after much effort

Then they hang what they think they own

in a public place anyway

explaining it to others

Conjuring madness

Reminding people of their lives

dripping with someone else’s oil

The masses disdain what they see

but they can’t stop looking at it.