The Monsters Within The Earth Poem by RIC BASTASA

Be not harsh to me
and be not quick
be gentle as a cat
fur, softness, whiskers
pliant to the tips
of my fingers
be kind
be so compassionate to
my plight
for i have lived in the layers of
my skin
to every pain and struggle
in every bark in every
phloem
be so deep as an ocean
in understanding
what love i have buried
inside my bones
you do not know how secretly
i have loved you
how i sealed my lips and
closed my eyes and open
then again with the salt of my tears
how i have hidden
from the world my protest against
its unreasonable rules
its skewed definition of love and
its terrains
where some have stayed instead in caves
rather than run naked
in the open
fields where reeds sing above
marshes
where birds lay eggs on the waters
where monsters
hide deep in the earth not knowing
that they too
know how to love
and care
for what the world have never
known much.