The Face Behind the Picture

You see me
Smiling
Posing
Happy
A face full of life
Captured in a frame
And to an extent
That's all true
But don't mistake that picture
For who I really am
Because that smiling face
Those twinkling eyes
Are just the surface
Underneath them
Deep below
The core is different
Tumultuous
Shivering
Trying to keep up
With a world it cannot grasp
With rules it cannot understand
Attempting to smile
To seem sure of myself
While feeling like an imposter
Because that confident smile
Is just an act
A show for the world
To hide the wounds
To mask the fears
And those twinkling eyes
Are a trick of the light
Hiding
The wonder
The sadness
The questions
The loneliness
That stay with me
No matter where I go
No matter who I'm with
But I learnt
Long ago
That the world prefers the act
It doesn't like truth
Unless it comes with
Smiles and twinkling eyes
It can't deal with the fire
That burns through me
Raging
Unapologetic
Beyond caring
It doesn't care what I think
Or what I feel
But rather
More importantly
Only how I look
And so here I stand
Smiling
Posing
Happy
A face full of life
Captured forever in a frame