Myths

Is it so much to ask
to be treated like a shell
or a little flower inside a shell,
to be treated delicately like I might
break? I don’t mean chivalry or 
from your desire to control.
Sometimes I just feel so soft
like I might crumble underneath the weight of it all.
A bird’s egg that you took
and now my mother doesn’t love me.
Well, I’ll fend for myself. I can take care of
that. But when you hold me, take care
not to crush. Pet softly, speak softer.
Kiss me with your eyelashes when my lips
are too thin to touch. But above all,
stay away from me whenever I want.