Come Out, Come Out

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Have you ever wondered why you can feel your heart beating through your rib cage? It feels like a bird trying to fly away from the body. And did you know that if you press your hand on your chest, a little too hard, it hurts? Even though there is the rib cage between the heart and the hand, it still feels like the hand could stop the heart from moving.

It’s strange how much you want to escape your life. No, not exactly escape, but repel. You vigorously flap your wings against the walls of your cage in an attempt to get away. But I know that you’d rather throw a black sheet over the jail and turn your back to the outside. You feel that the world has turned its back to you, so you turn your back to the world.

I know that you’re afraid of me. You’re afraid because you fear that I will not let go of you. That I will tie you down. That I will get so close that it hurts. There are the walls of your jail between us; I am unable to touch you. So you don’t have to be afraid.

But when you are in your jail, you cannot feel the outside world. Turning your back to it doesn’t mean that you don’t want to feel it, it only means that you don’t want to face it. If you came out of your jail, you would be vulnerable, and so you stay inside. That way, there is something that keeps you from being naked in the eyes of the world, without protection.

But if you came outside, I would protect you.