A Moment With Turtle

 Oh, Brave One, with the shell so tough.

 Why do you pull your head inside?

 Perhaps you are trying to cover what you really think, how you really feel.

You do it because you have been put in your place so many times.

 So many people have said you should feel a different way.

  They said it wasn't true, the stuff you were thinking.

 So you hide. 

It's safer in there, inside your shell. 

 Why share your thoughts with those you thought were friends?

  Friends don't judge, they listen.

  Foes look for wrong; for faults... 
poking and prodding to see if you will bite...

 Or is it you? 

What you are saying must not be what you meant.

 Maybe you are biting at sticks without reason.

 You know what you mean, a friend would know too.

Until you know, you will protect yourself. 

You will find out if they are safe, not betrayers.

Better to keep still and wait to be noticed...
be cold to affection till you feel safe and loved.
  
Then, maybe you will share again.

You remain,

 Respectfully theirs to poke fun at,                                                                         Turtle




Disclaimer:  I don't especially feel like Turtle right now...but I have felt this way before...I often wonder why when we get sore and prickly we try to protect ourselves?  And why hurts make us feel like being a turtle? Also, I wonder do we ever grow mature enough to not get our feelings hurt?  I know people who think they do...but I suspect they are not being totally honest or they are  bluffing their way through instead of tackling them head on and out loud as I tend to do.

Are you a turtle?