Touching the Sinew of Our Souls

The minds and spirits of others are unknowable.
We pluck hints from their actions and words,
but can never fully grasp their essence.

Our own emotions can sneak past our perception,
mysteries within enigmas wrapped in conundrums.
We can fail to know ourselves, let alone have
any clue about our neighbours.

We engage with each other and the world
through our bodies and words, but
not everyone says what they mean
or means what they say.  
To survive, we learn to
divine who to trust.

To thrive, we build trust, both with
ourselves and others.
But that is not always easy.

Each of us, seeks to find
mechanisms to connect with our true self.
If that fails, we morph into roles
we think will join us to a group, friends, or a mate. 
We settle for a fake skin, a diffused identity, which
flits from persona to facade until
there is no ‘I’.

Across the spectrum of humanity, we settle for skin deep, but
may we find the courage, to dig to emotional muscle and bone,
to tap into our souls.