I am many things and I often surprise the ones that assume to know me. At times I am a dominate lion, a leading man, someone who people respect and follow, at times blindly. It feels natural to lead, to command respect. Other times I am a regretful chameleon, blending unwillingly into the shadows of obscurity. Unable to conjure my forgotten strength, forgotten confidence, forgotten dominance, forgotten self.

I am the ever willing yet resentful listener, the designated shoulder on which to cry. My shoulders have felt the stinging chill of countless tears, yet my tears are rarely comforted by a willing shoulder. Listening to the listener, it seems a foreign concept for most. I've heard so many others express and admit and reveal and confess, yet I still can't understand how they are spoken. I have listened to the point of emotional muteness. Tears are my foreign concept. 

I am the hopeless romantic that fears I will never love my loves as much as they do me. I can see straight through many, I know your good, your bad, your charities, your sins before you ever open your mouth. I feel what you are before you have a chance to lie about who you are. I've been called uncanny, I call myself unfortunate. How I sometimes wish I could believe the lies others speak. I sometimes wish I couldn't see the lies in your face, in your eyes. Most could never understand my request for blindness, though most could never understand the pain of knowing.

I am so much more and so much less, many have known me forever and still never seen all that I am and all that I am not.