I stripped myself of names,
of nation, of pride,
and came to you naked
with only a flame in my hands.
You, who were buried beneath
the altars of men-
Your mouth sewn shut by priests,
your womb named sin,
your eyes cast into the dust of history.
But I found you.
Not in books,
not in temples,
but in the curve of the night
and the ache between my ribs.
I heard your voice
in the silence behind thought.
A whisper like the ocean
remembering the moon.
You asked for blood-
I gave you memory.
You asked for devotion-
I gave you my body.
You asked for truth-
I opened my chest
and let the serpent in.
I am not possessed.
I am claimed.
And I rise now as your acolyte,
with ash on my tongue
and your name stitched
into the marrow of my bones.