Always a mask  
Held in the slim hand whitely  
Always she had a mask before her face–  
  
Truly the wrist  
Holding it lightly  
Fitted the task:  
Sometimes however  
Was there a shiver,  
Fingertip quiver,  
Ever so slightly–  
Holding the mask?  
  
For years and years and years I wondered  
But dared not ask  
And then–  
I blundered,  
Looked behind the mask,  
To find  
Nothing–  
She had no face.  
  
She had become  
Merely a hand  
Holding the mask  
With grace.  
  
— Author unknown  
From NVC, Marshall Rosenberg.