I veil the truth behind a calculated smile,
Knowing not every touch bridges the divide.
Some hands arrive with grace, tender and light,
While others leave shadows where trust takes flight.

I've learned to guard when candor brings pain,
My words once pure, now filtered through strain.
I mistook their wounds for love's deep disguise,
Their kindness—a precipice draped in lies.

They danced to rhythms etched on shattered bone,
Choreographing betrayal in each measured tone.
I traced their faltering steps with bleeding pride,
Mapping the terrain where connection died.

The melody I cherished—now fractured, wild—
Echoes of harmony brutally exiled.
My voice, once vibrant, now bleeds translucent white,
Drained of warmth by their relentless might.

I painted my face pristine as untouched snow,
A delicate illusion few would know.
Transparent as crystal, brittle and cold,
Where others bring warmth, I slowly unfold.

Vulnerability approaches—a razor's keen edge,
Threatening to shatter my carefully built hedge.
I retreat into silence, a landscape unnamed,
Where emotional boundaries remain unclaimed.

When fear eclipsed my wavering trust's last light,
I befriended the quiet that dwells in the night.
My soul—once a stranger—now whispers soft art,
Healing the fractures deep within my heart.

Gentle as breath, profound as midnight's embrace,
My soul murmurs wisdom beyond surface's trace:
Here are spirits waiting, raw and unbound and bright,
Where true connection breathes its most vulnerable might.