Closer do I grow to a more appropriate model of masculinity.
And I think, if masculinity is bravery, then its opposing force thus requires fear, the daunting —
Masculinity is about facing fear. Looking it dead in the eye, unwavering.
A staring contest with a basilisk —
And all that dies is one’s cowardice.
I am done being afraid.
Show me my fears, for my compass is recalibrating.
True north now points towards all that terrifies me.
There do I march, evermore.
This is who I am, this is who I always was.
Let me stare fear in the eye.
Such is the mastery of the self, that final Guardian of the Threshold.
THE CLOSET MYSTIC 