Tender

Why born so tender?
Into a world of speed and light
Forced to move lightning fast
Braced against the inevitable piercing
Of armour that will never shield
Against a whirlwind of flying knives

How to show and not show
The very vulnerability
That roots my humanity
But crumbles to dust when challenged
Born without skin
A layer of protection missing
All nerve endings exposed
A radar tuned to absorb
A reservoir of transmitted distress
A lonely carrier of discarded angst
A grinning rictus
A mask against the world
With no protection at all

Move lightly
Leave no marks in the snow
When you move like a ghost
Unseen through the world