“Don’t Speak”

By Morning Star, April 2023

Step down,
deep stone
into holy ground.

A hunger,
a thirst—
you cannot explain.

Tight the rope,
sore the skin,
ripped in two—
a question mark.

Read the words
upon the page—
they burn
into the skin.

Broken candle,
rope,
and breath—
the whole of you
is bound.

The lights are dim.
Red candles flicker
on stone walls.

Be still.
Tight your eyes.
Don’t speak a word.
But read—
read with no delay.

Read the words
to the end of the book.
The pain will stop.
Your body, free.

But fear—
the fear of painful death—
still lingers
on the face.

Don’t speak a word.
Don’t shed a tear.
Don’t show
you cannot survive.

Be still.
Follow all the rules
of someone lying there.

Float—
up above,
into the air.

Puncture veins
with thread.

And once
the shadows disappear—
you’re safe.
Safe to return.

As long
as you are silent.

And never
speak
a word