Please stop.
You look too deeply.
You look too dangerously.
You look lovely when you look at me
under that microscope
but please stop.

What perplexes me so
is that this is what I’ve always wanted:
someone who seeks to understand me.
Someone who has tried to take me in
stared deeply and clearly
recognizes something past all the shields and disguises
obfuscatory language I may occasionally present to distract
from a direct honest opinion
and has not looked away.
You have not looked away
but still
I don’t know why.

Is it because you find me
fascinating
like some creature you barely understand
some curious species?

It is rare
that I am scared to be interesting
but under your penetrating gaze
I am horrified how I may look.
How will I appear under the microscope?
I do not want to be pinned down
on display at all.

What sort of experiment
must I be
what freak do I appear like
in your eyes
that look at me
so softly
so pityingly
so dangerously?

Just
could you stop?