Pause...
A moment when all noise is silenced. 
My heart pumps with a slow deep rhythm. 
Each pulse echos throughout my body. 
 

Noise...
It soaks through my clothes to my bone.
Dripping with polite niceties.
The aroma of social graces permeates my skin. 
 

Like the skin of a Snake, 
I slough my worn shell to the ground. 
Tumbling down my legs to my ankles. 
The hard reality of an exposed nerve.

The bracing water stings my skin. 
Tingling like electricity. 
It envelops me in a warm safety. 
And in this pause I see...
The difference between who we are,
And who we need to be.