Torn open, raw and exposed,
The heart trembles, its defenses deposed.
Yearning to love, yet paralyzed by fear,
Haunted by ghosts of the past, ever near.

Tempting promises, alluring and sweet,
But the mind erects walls, refusing to meet.
Scars still ache, wounds yet to heal,
Vulnerability a luxury, a risk too unreal.

Rather to pretend, to...