Hard?

And you say to me time and again "you're as hard as nails"
I look into your eyes, those soft brown pools I'd drown in without regret
That bring to mind molten chocolate and the pleasures it brings
And wonder "how can you be so blind"
It's hard to believe you can't see beyond the window dressing
Beyond the flash of diamond plating, I had such faith in you...
To the person who carries scars of forgotten wars
To the soul and heart beating in the shell of bronzed steel
Well you're only human, aren't you?

And you say I'm hard, again and again and again
You do not know the roads I've walked through, crawled through
Neither did you hear the battle cries of the wars I've fought
Have you put your beautiful feet in the seas I've forded?
Have you beheld the treacherous heights of the mountains I've conquered?
 Do you know the land from which my source springs?
Have the griots told you my stories?
You don't know all that, do you?

 I lie in your arms secure- the world can't touch me
Yet my heart strains at the weight of my thoughts
I wonder how you can't feel the softness you hold
The pliant heart nestled in the cup of your right palm
How you can't see what it costs for the diamond patina
That layer that shields me from a world too dangerous to go "armourless"
You can't see that, can you?

You think it's easy for me to shun blood ties
Yet you do not see the hurt that comes knowing,
That those for whom I shelve my dreams to make room for theirs
For whom I leave love's embrace to journey uncharted waters
With a strange captain to obey, would turn their backs on me.
You're not psychic, are you?

You probably wonder, "she would do the same to me"
Or indeed to anyone, I wish I could deny it
I wish I could say, that isn't me
The appearance of truth is not the same as truth
You know that already, don't you?

Lover mine, it breaks my heart that I had to sit and write
The things that wound my soul to remember
To explain the things I shouldn't have to
You need to know, don't you?

 No, you're not the only one who's fooled by the strength of my plating
Who's taken in by the lack of a dent when I'm struck
You should know that, shouldn't you?

I believe that you'd read this and see
The words my heart and soul speak but my body doesn't emote

Hard? Honey, it's only an illusion.

For you... from her