'Tap, tap.'

'Who's there?'

I love my red hooded cape. I 

    love to wrap myself within. So

cozy, and snug and safe, hiding

    my little timid self away, 

in anonymity, alone!

    I love everyone! I do, but 

the light of day scares me, and the

    dark of night scares me, and so I

pull my cape around me, tightly,

    and peek! Ever so carefully!

Sometimes I come out, I have to.

    Were I an anemone, I

would be affixed, and all would come

    to me! I could reach out. But I 

could also retreat at first touch!

    Don't look! Don't touch! That’s me, but could 

there be one? Dare I dare to hope?

    One so opposite of me, that

together we might make a whole?

    I dare! I dare! I dare! I peek!

~~~

Who is this I see? Come, come out!

    Afraid? Of what? The light? The dark?

What do you think you are, so quick

     to retreat, an anemone?

Come, let me see you. I won't bite.

    Not hard. Come, little one, I see

you. I see you peeking. Come, come,

    don't be shy. You want to come out, 

surely you do. I only wish 

    to . . . comfort . . . you. I promise you,

there is nothing to fear. The sun 

    is warm, the night is cool, the stars 

won't fall on you! There are wonders 

    to see, delights to eat, wine to 

drink, come little shy one, come out. 

     Afraid? Of me? Why child, you’ll see,

there is so much to gain, and what 

     to lose? What could I take? What could 

be so precious? So sacrosanct 

    as to cause this timidness? Pray,

what is touch, if not bliss? And words, 

    if not dear? Come now, I haven’t 

got all day. I grow impatient.

    You have nothing to fear from me!

Nothing that cannot be undone.