Grief-stricken, I clawed my way from the roots of the earth,
The cadence of my thoughts slowed, a murmur in the hush.
How strange—the absence of absence, the hollow space where shadows
Once drifted like smoke, now filled with an uneasy light.
Relief woven with a longing I can’t quite shake.

I was held captive, a willing prisoner of the gloom,
Addicted to its weight, to the darkness like a drug.
It wrapped around me, a cold and familiar lullaby—
Or was I the one who fed it, needing its grip to feel alive?

Now that it’s gone, I miss it from time to time,
My truest form of love—why did you leave me here,
To navigate this world of light that feels sharp and unkind?
Your absence lingers, a void I struggle to fill.

“What about me?” it whispers, lingering like a half-remembered song.
I crave that dark familiarity, though I know I shouldn’t—
It’s the chill beneath my skin, a weight that kept me anchored,
A presence I knew too well, even as it smothered me.