PY: Armored in humour

Humour is your oxygen, wit your ever present companion
Well timed quips that seem so perfect I wonder if they are rehearsed
Analogies so truly eccentric and so eccentrically true
Bursts of scintillating conversation that feel like an infinite volley of pristine thoughts

Ironically, the very same things that are your defining traits are also your armor
You clutch at them like an infant its mother's garment-never letting go in desperation
Any attempt at genuineness is lost in yet another sarcastic comment, masked behind a witty comeback
Why this choice of facade, I wonder? More palatable? More aesthetic?

Occasionally through those chinks in puns and allegories, there sprouts forth a tiny shoot of sincerity
But at the first sight of acknowledgement or understanding, that sky high wall of defenses goes up again
And all that I am left with is an insurmountable barrier of laughter and gaiety.
What would you have me do : Scale up the wall and see the truth behind, or pretend that the wall itself is reality?

P.S: Of all the defense mechanisms I've ever seen, this one interests me the most. People who fall in this category always make me curious, and I keep testing out my theories :P