I keep my paint brush with me 
Wherever I may go, 
In case I need to cover up 
So the real me doesn't show.
I'm so afraid to show you me,
Afraid of what you'll do --
that You might laugh or say mean things.
I'm afraid I might lose you. 

I'd like to remove all my paint coats 
To show you the real, true me,
But I want you to try and understand, 
I need you to accept what you see.
So if you'll be patient and close your eyes, 
I'll strip off all my coats real slow. 
Please understand how much it hurts 
To let the real me show. 

Now my coats are all stripped off. 
I feel naked, bare and cold, 
And if you still love me with all that you see, 
You are my friend, pure as gold. 

I need to save my paint brush, though, 
And hold it in my hand, 
I want to keep it handy 
In case somebody doesn't understand. 
So please protect me, my dear friend 
And thanks for loving me true, 
But please let me keep my paint brush with me ... 
Until I love me, too! 

Author Unknown to me 
 

Who am I? 

Don't be fooled by me. 
Don't be fooled by the face I wear, 
For I wear a mask, I wear a thousand masks. 
Masks that I am afraid to take off. 
But none of them are me. 
But don't be fooled. 
I give you the impression that I am secure, 
That all is sunny and unruffled with me, 
Within as well as without, 
That confidence is my name and coolness my game, 
And that I need no one, 
Don't believe me, Please! 

My surface may be smooth, 
But my surface is my mask, 
My vaying and ever concealing mask. 
Beneath lies no smugness, 
No complacence. 
Beneath dwells the real me, 
In confusion and fear, 
In loneliness. 

I idly chatter with you in the suave tones of surface talk. 
I tell you everything that's really nothing, 
Of what's crying within me. 
So, when I'm going through my routine, 
Please don't be fooled by what I'm saying. 
Please listen carefully, and try to hear what I'm not saying, 
And what I'd like to be able to say, 
What for survival I need to say, 
But what I can't say. 

Only you can call me into aliveness, 
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging, 
Each time you try to understand because you really care, 
My heart begins to grow wings. 
Very small wings, very feeble wings, but wings. 

With your sympathy and sensitivity, 
And your power of understanding, 
You can breathe life into me, 
I want you to know that. 
I want you to know how important you are to me, 
How you can be a creator of the person that is me if you choose to. 
Please choose to. 
Do not pass me by. 
It will not be easy for you. 
My long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls. 
The nearer you approach me, the blinder I may strike back. 
I fight against the very thing I cry out for, 
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls, 
In this lies my hope. 
My only hope. 

Who am I, you may wonder. 
I am someone you know very well, 
I am a hurting member of your family, 
I am the hurting person sitting beside you in this room, 

Please don't believe my mask, 
Please come behind it to glimpse the real me. 
Please speak to me, share a little of yourself with me, 
At least recognize me. 
Please ... 
Because You Care. 

Author Unknown to me