Cocoon

I no longer trust walls

Made of brick and cement

To keep me safe

To keep you out of my life

Along with everyone else

Because I did build walls

Watched as they collapsed to the ground

Only to build them again

And again

Until I realized that walls

They weren’t as strong as they looked

I felt defenseless

Vulnerable

Behind those walls that

So easily crumbled to the ground

Like they were nothing but walls of a

Gingerbread house

And so I threw away all those bricks and cement

I don’t need them anymore

For you’ll see that now

I’m hidden in a cocoon

Sure, it looks fragile

But you’ll need more energy than you think

To tear it apart and

Expose me to the world outside

And each time I have to weave myself

A new cocoon

It will only be stronger than the others

More layers so the sunlight doesn’t burn my eyes

More layers so you can’t tear it apart as easily

As you broke down each wall I put up

And it will be woven so tightly around me

Leaving no loom for air

For me

And slowly

With each new cocoon I must weave for myself

It will be a tighter and tighter fit

Until

Snap!

My bones break in two

Like dry twigs

Beneath careless feet

Snap!

Snap!

Snap!

Until I am nothing at all

And your hands then

Will be stained

For you broke the cocoon

Knowing what each rebuild

Would do to me

You made my bones snap

You

With hands stained with

Butterfly dust