Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
My mind is ancient
The more I attempt to translate it into modern lexicon
The more frustrated I grow
Like a language that is unpalatable
A sun that cannot be observed too closely
But the true agony is
To watch a crowd cheer
For a mediocre imitation of what I first conceived of
A flicker of a candle in comparison
That is hell
They say imitation is a form of flattery, but I don’t like being flattered
I dreamt of you last night
You’re the face my subconscious likes to wear most
You said “I know you’re sad, but you have to take control of your life.”
So I will pull back on the yoke
Darling, I am going to fly
Arrogance has no place in a laboratory.
We are priests of progress,
Prophets of potential.
We feel the edges of the future,
By measuring it indirectly.
So please,
Have reverence for these sacred equations.
Leave space for mystery.
Hang your pride on the coat rack,
You don’t know everything.
Don the robe of wonder.
Put on the mantle of genius,
Which has and always will be,
Curiosity.
Obtaining her
Was like grasping for moonlight
She was not a woman
She was a fever that wouldn’t break
He built a life around her soul
Like a man, desperate to build a house for god
But unable to capture the essence completely
She was a cathedral of longing … of ache
Walls lined with echos of her angel voice
Torturing him with the promise of ecstasy
A psalm humming inside his ribs,
Pulsating with need for her
His devotion turned into disease
He burned in the shape of her absence
There was no mercy in this …
Only worship
You think I summoned you?

That I lit a flame and lured you like a moth?

No love, you came.

You came with your ring still warm on your hand
Your prayers still clinging to your breath.

You crossed your own lines.

I just stood there, quiet, watching, inevitable.

They call me witch,
say I cast spells,

But the truth is far simpler.

I see you.

That frightens men more than any magic.

You wear your hunger like cologne 

And your lies like wedding bands.

I only ever peel back the veil.

They speak of my hair, 
fire, they say
As if it's the flame that burns them,

Not their own reaching hands.

And my eyes. Yes, green.
 Like the wild.
Like envy.
Like things that grow
in places too dark to name.

I was not made to be loved safely.

I was made of thresholds and fruit bitten too soon
You know my name already, don’t you?

Not the one they whisper behind closed doors

But the one that hums beneath your ribs

When you dream of gardens no woman tends.

Do you want to know a secret?

They don’t fall for my beauty.

They fall because I know.

Know where their longing lives.

Know the ache they dress up as righteousness.

I touch the part of them
 they bury in pews and politics.
Still, I never ask them to stay.

I am not a cage.

I am the door they walk through,

and sometimes, the fire they walk into.

So if you came here looking for guilt,

You won’t find it.

If you came looking for salvation
You’re late.

But if you came to burn,
then speak, love.

I’m listening.
The texture of the night
No longer feels foreign
For so long,
It was alien, peculiar
But, the fabric feels familiar now
Silky and cold to the touch
I have absorbed the darkness
Become the creature lurking in the shadows
No longer do I fear what lingers behind the veil
But have kissed what was hidden beneath
And have merged with my worst nightmares
The remains of me feeding the darkness
The melting of soul into the soil of sorrow
Eves Affliction Dec 2024
I soberly behold the march of time
And observe its inevitable nature
I see the wrinkles deepening in my mothers eyes
And hear my fathers voice become weaker
I see the sterling hairs shine silvery in my red tresses
I see the fatigue in my husbands muscles from years of hard work
And it makes me sad, at first, for the imposing truth of mortality is evident
But it also fills my heart with profound joy
To have life at all and love so fierce
To hold the hands of my mother and father while they’re still warm
And enjoy the lingering days of my youth while I have it
To fully feel the embrace of my husband and his remaining strength
I swear to burn with life as long as I have it
And to love beyond reasonable comprehension while I still can
My life will not end with a flicker
It will end with a magnificent blaze of heat and unbridled love
Next page