Bell's Palsy

On one side,

my mouth opens ready to shout On the other, it's shut, biting it's tongue. Torn by desire crushed under obligation how does one find love a superficial angel on one side

and a judgemental devil on the other It's a disease

I told myself If one side smiles long enough, or the other side folds I can almost blend in. Fitting in, until I had to speak. Then the farce that I was well fell down. One side shouts a guttural moan the other whispers regurgitated data. "What a gift," they said,

raising me. "What a curse!" I shouted,

storming out mask in hand

from my home

into the unknown. I wore that mask,

until it cracked

under the eruption

of birth and rebirth And my Bell's Palsy revealed that pretending I'm ok

broke me more than a mirror

ever could.