Poem for a Shallot

I am fooled.

You insist on the secret of skins –

how perfectly each wraps you.

You compartmentalize,

I don't know how.

I can peel you back to nothing.

I hunt for what isn't there –

layer upon layer –

down to your cagey heart.

When I try to get away

you've snuck into my breath, eyes,

making me cry

into my hands.