I put up walls to hide who I really was.
I tried to create the persona I thought
you wanted me to be, but those
carefully constructed illusions didn’t hold up, and so

you saw right through me.

I put on masks, and tried to smile and pretend
that everything was fine, just fine… but
I’ve never been a very good pretender, and so

you saw right through me.

I thought I needed to become someone I’m not, but I
finally realized I couldn’t hide;
There was, in fact, no need to hide.
I simply had to be who I truly am

because even then – as it turned out –
you saw right through me

as if I wasn’t even there,
as if I were, indeed,
just an illusion.

The Daily Post daily one-word prompt: Illusion