Behind the Curtain

Come, meet me on the inside.
Come, share my soul.
The inner me is warm and true …
Noble, clean and whole.

It may be, on the outside,
I’m not pleasing to the eye.
The outer me is quite severe –
Rather drab and dry.

Sometimes my inside tells my out
To shine a little more –
To smile and glow and radiate
The warmth behind the door.

Even so, the out remains
Impassive, closed and bleak.
Not the cheerful kind of face
That people tend to seek.

But inside, if you once could see,
I’m not like that at all.
I’m kind and pleasant, full of joy,
Behind the dour wall.

I love, I laugh, I worship;
My heart’s awash with grace.
Though cold reserve conspires to
Withhold it from my face!

I wish you knew the inner me.
I wish it could be known.
If you could glimpse inside you’d see
The outer me dethroned.                     

I’m working to relax the mask;
It’s no one else’s fault.
But if you work at coming through
You’ll prize the end result.                

We’ll meet behind the curtain,
Beyond the cruel divide.
And fellowship without restraint,
All hang-ups cast aside.

So come on through, and disregard
The outer sentinel
Welcome to the inner me –
The me within this shell.