(grow a pair)

a battle rages
                                 (a war as old as humanity)

enemies most terrible
                life against life

life unveiled
    sharp
       raw
burdensome
(battle is difficult)
your unveiling is your
very freedom
     your truth
    your armor

yet it leaves you
n a k e d
               unguarded
o p e n to strike
             and enemy attack
you bleed
        so easily
you see
      so far into the future
     you *feel
all things with such intensity    

-

veiled life
metallic shine
        glints off your armor
you cannot be so
easily struck...so easily bled    
                    but your senses are dulled        

reason can be ignored
         sight can be blurred
and life can be lived in
a state of numb
satisfaction                

-

i am of the unveiled
since my beginning
and to my end

yet battles rage on
despite my feeling                            
that i can't *possibly
                   get any closer to the edge
that my brain can't handle                  
anymore notions of this world.

but what keeps rising to my throat
and threatening to sting my eyes
is this

what i want to know of this universe i cannot know.
my most deeply held wishes are impossible.
my desires matter to no one but myself.
whatever i love will be taken from me.
everyone i love will be taken from me.
i can be taken from myself.