IMAGE

what do you see?

Smooth sophistication;

polished, accomplished me.

Brimming with self-confidence,

from diffidence quite fee;

a rock amid life's turbulence,

mature, experienced me.

I'll let you into a secret

if you promise not to tell.

What you see is just a veneer,

a carapace, a shell.

Behind the shiny surface,

by the casual eye unseen,

there hides a heart as hapless

as when I was seventeen,

lingering by the dance floor

watching the couples whirl,

the boy who was not bold enough

to ask that dark-haired girl.

The timid boy still lingers

behind the adult mask

of the man who longs to dance with life

but is too shy to ask.