Today I stepped onto the platform, and the seven men behind the booth asked me,

“Who is the realest you?”

“Is it the one who is beautiful and speaks clearly, smile bright?”

“Is it the creature muzzled and blind, trembling in rage?”

“Could it be the one that cries so deeply at the beauty of the songbirds’ choir at dawn?”

“Could it be the one that threw a stone at a young deer, eating your newly bloomed berries?

“Perhaps it is the one that charms and delights all?”

Then the seventh man said, after a moment of quiet:

“Tell us, darling, who is the realest you?”

I cannot leave the platform until I say.

~Sammicakes