your words are an invitation.
i eat them off my plate
and when i swallow they become
indistinguishable from my own.

i recognize what i already knew.
we are permeable.

still i wear this cage of white bars
across my chest.
24 pieces of armour.
an illusion that reveals the work i need to do.

if i pry and break them,
one by one,
will my heart finally surface
and rejoin you?