Please explain stanza 3.

Stanza 3 restates that the speakers “smile,” yet goes on to beseech Christ for compassion (“our cries / To thee”), for the souls of these masqueraders are “tortured.” The speakers not only smile, but also “sing”; they are nevertheless in physical and emotional agony from their toil and long journey (“oh the clay is vile [...] and long the mile”). Despite the magnitude of their pain, the speakers restate that they would prefer to leave the world oblivious to their experience (“But let the world dream otherwise”). The poem closes with a final iteration of the refrain, this time with an exclamation point (“We wear the mask!”).

In addition, Stanza 3 shifts to an agricultural and migratory setting, which is loaded with images of slavery and displacement and marks the climax of this poem. The stanza features a series of Christian allusions which underscore the speakers’ desperation, as well as the gravity of their situation: “O great Christ” (Jesus Christ), “oh the clay is vile” (the creation of humans from clay), and “long the mile” (the exodus of Israelites out of slavery). Amid these allusions to Biblical slavery, salvation, and existential agony, the speakers “smile” and “sing.” These smiles and songs somewhat seem different from previous performances of positivity—here, it is not the “mask” that “grins,” but the speakers themselves (“We smile”; “We sing”) that celebrate. Dunbar may be communicating the strength and resilience of the African-American community in these moments of empowerment.