In shadows danced a soul so frail,
A chameleon in a shifting veil.
To please the world, it bent and swayed,
Yet joy for self, forever delayed.

A mask adorned, a new facade,
For each admirer, a different god.
In quest of love, in search of grace,
Lost in the echoes, a vacant space.

In every mirror, a fractured face,
Yearning for a steady embrace.
Yet love, a phantom, slipped away,
As colors bled to shades of gray.

A thousand roles, a thousand tries,
In borrowed dreams, the spirit sighs.
A heart that longed to find its place,
Yet wandered through an empty space.

The echoes of their hollow praise,
Could never mend the fractured maze.
Each transformation left a scar,
A shattered soul, a fading star.

For in the end, the truth remains,
No mask can mend what's bound in chains.
A heart that seeks to please the throng,
Finds solace in its own sad song.

Oh, tragic soul, lost in the masquerade,
In trying to please, your essence did fade.
A lesson learned, though late, alas,
To be oneself, is love's truest grasp.

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Chronos, in the year 930 AF.