Drop down the curtain
The show is complete
Lift up your head
In tired defeat

Take off your mask
Set it down on the table
Wait for the critics
To pick at and label

Let them beat you
Their words the equivalent of printed hate
Let them get to you
Isn't it great?

How they talk about you
Degrade you
Like they always had a clue
Tearing apart the show
Causing you to miss your cue

They don't understand
How much work you have done
To make your act perfect
To feel like you've finally won

Let the feelings encase you
Like the spotlight on stage
Overwhelming, they hate you
Your thoughts repeat and convey

Your role is huge
You can barely learn it all
But once you do you realize
Sure critics have their fun,

But they don't have strength
Worry, achievements and goals
All that you have
They can never grab hold of

Their words are all lies
Giving them false happiness
While under their pressure you break
Giving into everything they say

But they're just uneducated
They've never seen a good grade
While you are intelligent and superior
All traits they want to take

Disregard all the words
They've used to make you feel small
They mean nothing. They're pointless
Crafted for hate

Overcome their false happiness
Slap a real smile on your face
End the note on a high
Take your mask off now and throw it away
Show your true self
Find the real meaning and
take a bow
Shine brighter
Than all of those smaller and weaker
Close the curtain
Hear the applause
Appreciate the good that always comes at the end.