Your easy laughter 
Your jokes and smiles 
And your jovial manner 
Makes me feel so good, so comfortable… 
And like a snail 
I crawl  
Out towards you… 
 
But the ways of the world 
And the complexities  
Of the human mind 
Make me feel so apprehensive, so terrified… 
And like a snail 
I keep  
My shell handy, very close to myself…. 
 
To retreat into just in case 
your soothing smile  
changes into a devilish sneer 
and your friendly hand 
stretches itself out 
to kill,  
to snuff the very life out of me.
Jasbir Chatterjee
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-snail-2/