“What are you most afraid of?”
I’ve been asked so many times
Showing vulnerability
Was always foremost in my mind.
I learned to view it as a weakness
For it could be ransomed over me
I grew to hide it very well
And not let anybody see.
Lest they use this fear against me
Take all my secrets and depart
Carrying it like loose change , you see
And not safely in their heart.
Then one day it occurred to me
During a moment of pure bliss
It was never vulnerability I feared
But what came with it, happiness.
For when I’m truly happy
When my soul begins to shine
That’s when life will steal from me
What I was never meant to find.
They say happiness is fleeting
And I declare this is so
It’s a momentary embrace
I’ll never really get to know.
The way it wraps around you
Like a sheltered cocoon
And just when I believe in it
It’s taken away to soon.
That feeling of joy
That puts a bounce in my step
Always makes me stumble
When the reality sets
In to remind me
Happiness is brief
Just give it a second
And it will leave.
So now when they ask me
“What is it I fear”
I whisper “being happy”
So quietly, they can not hear.