Packed and Wrapped

She speaks to me silently

but I know what she says;

each unspoken word

felt through me;

known by mood,

known by her presence,

known by being “me”

and “not me”

both at the same time.

A shadow self -

a second-self within -

not wholly me,

but me differently.

Sometimes she is silent

but sometimes

she embraces being “us”

completely.

But then she can be driven out,

driven into hiding,

driven into fear,

by the pressure of others

for me to be

only what they see I am -

what they presume

I should be -

packed and wrapped

by a label “man”.