I lough like mad - like at distorting mirrors I’ve been, -
Someone must be played a deftly hoax on me:
Hooks of the noses and up to the ears grin -
Like at carnival in Venice!

Around me the ring is closing at pace -
They grab me, got me involved in a dance, -
So that’s when, my normal face
They all took for a mask, perhaps. 

Petards, confetti... But everything is not as it’s should be, -
And masks with reproach are looking at me, -
They shout, that once again - I’m out of beat,
That I’m stepping on the partners feet.

What should I do - to run and very quick?
And maybe, together have fun in their place?
I hope - that under the mask of a beast
There can be a human face.

Everyone are in the masks, in the wigs - all are in, -
Some from the fairy tale, and some - from a roman...
My neighbor on the left is sad harlequin,
The other - executioner, And every third one - dumb.

One tried to whiten himself so hard,
The other - hiding his face from all the fuss,
And some - don’t have the strength to tell apart
Their own face from indispensable mask.

I lough while stepping into a circle dance, when asked, -
And yet, I’m not in peace with this lot:
And what if, someone likes a hangman mask
And like it so much - he won’t take it off?

Suddenly, the harlequin will grow sad for good,
Admiring himself his face so sad,
What, if the fool his own stupid look
On his normal face will just forget?!

How not to miss a kind face - a task
How can I distinguish the honest - unknown
They all have learned to wear the masks,
So they don’t smash their faces on the stone.

Nevertheless, I’ve broke the secret of the masks, -
I’m sure, that my analyses is right:
That masks of indifference in others might -
Be a defense from from spittle and face slaps.