It's easy to forget, To become lost. To sidestep this wound, To smile, To subvert, To walk away. To reject the pain of being a man. To choose my monstrous shadow, A cocoon. Pale and absent. Without consequence. Without emotion. Without need. To stride across burning bridges. Impervious. And never look back.
"He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man." — Samuel Johnson