other self

*other self*
You will not save me
Your words cannot raise me
Neither witch nor angel
Brazen temptress or virgin maid
You are none and all
Projected upon and exploring
Every role and every you
The smiles smoulder
Your laughter filled
Lines of body haunt
Imaginations masculine pliable
You are not hindrance or weight
Nor champion or guardian
You are composed of same matter
As flesh and blood and muscle as me
You observe Nature's same laws
Gravity Time or sight and sound
By our limits governed
Even as our natures seek to overcome
Extend our mastery over all
Dispute the rulership of others
You are not breakfast or dinner
Nor famine or pestilence
I perceive you as I see
Not as you may in heart be
We each tangle ourselves
In nuanced communications woven
Through every word and pause
In how we stand and move and turn
We yearn and burn and play self as fool
We obey and we break every rule
For Love of another
Is neither for old or young
The wicked or innocent equal
Ensnared by emotions greater
Than our human frames can contain or hold
Is no surprise we try and make our other
Container of all our hopes
Well of all our fears
A breathing Pandora's box
More valuable than our own lives
Which curiosity drives us forward
To pry open and explore.