This Tangled Tango

I grow tired of people
appearing to want things
that I feel obliged to give,
unless I feel inclined
to discount and disparage
what they seem to want.

It’s the sad old dance
of one ego grasping at another,
a tangled tango of attachment,
desire, and fear.

Why is it so hard
to cast off this burden
and stand before another human
free of wanting,
open to the give and take
of spontaneous being?