What love, if not mine, could burn as bright?
Against your skin it moved hesitantly.
You were the clipped bird that taught me flight
and watched silent as I plunged into the sea.

You were the threadbare peace I found solace in,
as rough heartbeats lulled me to sleep.
At your hands, I forgot what might have been
and found happiness that was not mine to keep.

You became the voices in my head,
my every breath, you claimed.
Turning from God, I prayed to you instead,
new faith, old lust: the beast you tamed.

I held on to the ghosts that I could not save
as you devoured my soul, ignoring my pleas,
ripped my still-beating heart from its unguarded cage
and left me carved open, half-dead on my knees.