Everyday Masks, by Billy Howell-Sinnard

Masks Confronting Death, by James Ensor (Belgium). 1888.

Everyday Masks

They've held you like the night before a storm.
A whistle blows. The shades rattle 
huddled in the aftermath of thunder
that sends a message from the place of death.
He knows us. The very number of hairs 
on our heads. Giveth and taketh away. 
He has no disguise. We mock him as if he 
were a fool who counts his money 
several times a day. There are only bones 
beneath our masks. We are so much like him. 
We smile, look over our shoulders, 
shame him. He must be the loneliest of us all.

Billy Howell-Sinnard

This poem was written in response to the surprise ekphrastic I See a Darkness challenge.
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Billy is a hospice case manager, visual artist, and poet. He's had numerous first, second, and third place wins at IBPC (InterBoard Poetry Community). His poem, Hospice Nurse, won second place for poem of the year for 2014-2015. Several of his poems have been published in anthologies and at online poetry sites.