I, Like Newland Archer, Poem by Safina Leigh Tamerlaine

I do not dare give voice to my heart.
If it spoke, all my hopes would be tested against the will of the world
And vulnerable, my dreams would lie before you.
My secret loves and girlish fancies, all my imaginings and wishes
Before you laid, at your mercy thrown.
Will you accept this, my heart? Will you see the possibility
Or will you toss it all back to me, with “I’m sorry, but…”
I could not take that.
Oh, I would live. I would make it through, struggle on somehow.
I would put on my omote and rejoin the masses.
But oh, the emptiness, the shame, which would then flood my soul!
Better for me to hide my dreams
So they will not be broken.