My Hidden Heart

My heart has been in hiding,

under a tough body Armour;

a dark shell

thick with crustaceans of

limpets and barnacles who

attach

yet don't get through.

As tears dropped down

I panic,

I need it open,  

I grip my fingers

and crank it in the middle.

Squelching,

it finally opens like

the fleshy entrails of an oyster.

I discard 

the heaviness

the shell,

the protection,

the Armour,

I've been carrying.

My heart has been in hiding.