A rondeau by Paul Laurence Dunbar

(A)  We wear the mask that grins and lies,
(A)  It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
(B)  This debt we pay to human guile;
(B)  With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
(A)  And mouth with myriad subtleties.

(A)  Why should the world be over-wise,
(A)  In counting all our tears and sighs?
(B)  Nay, let them only see us, while
(C)  We wear the mask.

(A)  We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
(A)  To thee from tortured souls arise.
(B)  We sing, but oh the clay is vile
(B)  Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
(A)  But let the world dream otherwise,
(C)  We wear the mask!

This popular form of French poetry is made up of three iambic stanzas with thirteen octosyllabic lines and two tetrasyllabic half lines, together employing only three rhymes.  These half lines are referred to as the refrains, which must be identical with the beginning of the first line.  It was customarily regarded as a challenge to arrange for these refrains to contribute to the meaning of the poem in as succinct and poignant a manner as possible.