Destroyers and Other Verses/Masqueraders

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Masqueraders.
Life is but a masquerade—You must choose some well-worn part,Play, and be for playing paid,Take your money and depart.
Yet the spangled Harlequin,Agile dandy full of jest,Hides beneath a cloak of sinThe mystic's heart within his breast.
Columbine with flaunting frillsMakes an all-devoted wife;Gigantic hidden laughter fillsThe fur-robed Doctor's solemn life.
And the slippered PantaloonSuffers from a broken heart,Sings his sorrows to the moon,Tender lyrics, full of art.
So beneath each daily taskLife flows on, a hidden stream—Every wise man wears a mask,Only fools are what they seem.
Paris, April, 1849.
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