Shelled

I’m simply
a mollusk
too soft for this world
so I’ve grown a hard shell
and I exist within it, always
to come out
would render me
prey, too vulnerable
to the predators of life
evolution is survival
therefore my ending might arise
if you request me to step out of which
I have lived by
sustained myself with
protected myself with
distanced myself with
disguised myself in
you may be asking me to risk
the very life
I’ve grown up
shielding you away from
parts of me you may never understand
those parts you may never accept
these parts, too fragile to be handled tightly
for I give in too easily
and so attraction has always proven to be
fatal, for people like me
so I move at a snails pace
to never stray too far, from my safe space