If It Frightens Don’t Look

If It Frightens Don’t Look

If it frightens, don’t look straight at it,

Some things sharpen when they are seen.

Fear learns your shape very quickly,

It studies where you’ve been.

There are shadows that wait for attention,

They grow confident under a stare.

They borrow your breath and posture,

Until you forget what was there.

Not every darkness wants understanding,

Some survive on being named.

You think light will weaken them,

Instead they learn the shape of flame.

I learned this the slow way,

By standing still too long.

Calling it courage, calling it strength,

When it was endurance going wrong.

There is a difference they never tell you,

Between facing and feeding pain.

One leads you through it carefully,

The other keeps you chained.

Instinct arrives before logic,

A tightening, a quiet pull.

That is not fear asking permission,

That is wisdom being blunt and full.

The body remembers before the mind,

What danger feels like near.

It speaks in discomfort and unease,

Not words, not reason, just clear.

If it frightens, don’t demand answers,

Don’t force your eyes to stay.

Some truths are not lessons,

They are warnings saying walk away.

Turning is not failure,

It does not make you small.

Survival is a language of choice,

Not weakness at all.

If it frightens, trust the signal,

Let silence close the door.

Peace is sometimes found in absence,

Not in knowing more.