I'm not clear on why "I let the reader interpret on his or her own" is an option on the metaphor question. No matter how many metaphors you use, the reader always interprets them (or not) on his/her own. Even if you don't use metaphors, readers may interpret things in the text as metaphors whether you want them to or not. If you attempt to take this agency from the reader by explaining your metaphors, which are inherently subtextual, they stop being subtext and just become--text.