There are barely memories left untainted A childhood cut short A trusting soul shredded with each stolen touch Still now, after a lifetime of living, Of forcibly refusing to be nothing, Of overcoming everything Remnants seep through the skin From the depths of demon's lair Distant cackles mock the resurgence of nightmares Scouring pad scrubbies only removed skin The stink of it remains Filling every pore Escaping in a sigh, infectious by design Time heals nothing It protects the broken pieces Masking them behind affection & other surface emotions The jagged edges of the memory of pain Still violate innocence Still ruin a smile before it is born Used as brutal warnings, They are jabbed straight through a heart trying desperately to heal At the first sign of affection, the pain awakens At the first sign of attachment, it skins the heart alive Angered at defiance, it burns like molten metal Scraping at the hardened crevasses of the mind Searing pain in hidden dreams Cauterizing the memories open Reliving the blade time has dulled Never allowed to love Even if it's make-believe Twisted sounds of tinkling music boxes And the distant laughter of demons CACKLE AND HISS Cackle And Hiss cackle and hiss Muted into a familiar rhythm Underlying the complacency of life Only to scorch a soul into nightmares When the heart dares to feel