I am the echo I try to outrun,
A shadow that clings to the face of the sun.
Each smile I wear is a borrowed disguise,
A mask to survive in a world built on lies.

I loathe the silence that grows in my chest,
The way I pretend that I’m doing my best.
There’s venom in thoughts I dare not confess
A whisper that says I am nothing, no less.

My hands betray me, they tremble with guilt,
Like architects shamed by the ruins they built.
I tear at the seams of the person I feign,
And stitch myself back with thread made of pain.

No voice ever told me I wasn’t enough,
But mine,soft and cruel,was more than enough.
It carves its initials deep into my skin,
Repeating the cycle I never begin.

I don’t want your pity, I don’t want your grace,
Just leave me to drown in my desolate place.
A cage of my making, each bar forged from fear
I hate what I see when the mirror is near.

Yet still, in the night, something fragile survives,
A flicker, a breath, where despair never thrives.
But I do not chase it,I know how this ends:
In battles with monsters I swore were my friends.

How beautiful can a person be?
As radiant as dawn upon the sea,
With laughter like a silver stream,
And eyes that hold the softest dream.

Their kindness carves the quiet air,
Like petals drifting unaware,
A gentle word, a steady hand,
A heart the world can't understand.

Not beauty shaped by face or frame,
But in the way they speak your name,
The way they pause, the way they stay,
When others turn and walk away.

They wear no crown, they seek no throne,
Yet lift your soul when you're alone.
They shine with something pure and deep
A peace that even stars would keep.

How beautiful can someone be?
As boundless as eternity.
Not in the mirror’s fleeting grace
But in the light they leave in place.

You looked my way when shadows ruled my soul,
When I wore the mask of beasts, not whole
Dominant, selfish, blind to the right,
Unmoved by mercy, lost in might.

Yet something in you sparked a change,
A warmth that felt both deep and strange.
I shed the guise, let truth appear,
Unveiled my eyes, drew you near.

But when I stepped into the light,
Your gaze had turned, lost from sight.
It wasn’t me you saw or knew
Another face had captured you.

Too long I lingered in my cage,
Too slow to temper pride with sage.
So now I wear another guise,
Pretending still behind these eyes.

Not beast, not self, not love, not fire
Just quiet ash of lost desire.
And though you’re gone, I watch, I learn
That sometimes hearts don’t wait their turn.