I fear to drape you in veils
dyed in the various shades of night
that, paper-thin and vulnerable,
yet bear the leaden weight of the world's iniquities.
I would rather swaddle your mind in robes
of colours that dazzle and blind
of silken fantasies woven with images of gods and animals
and clasps studded with the drunken gems of escape.
To hold the delicate balance of another is to truly fear.