i stand in the shadows of greatness

an inability to express in fumbling words the feelings that burn, freeze, strike and shatter

words are my trade and traitorous they have become

leaving me stripped bare, nerves exposed, pounding salty tears

how do you move forward when the past weighs so heavily, crushingly, hooks tearing the flesh from my back

a river of blood and torn flesh marks my steps

i need something, a connection to tie me to this world of agonizing wails or i shall lose the last bits of me to the winds

demons plague my mind as blackness envelops like tar, sin pouring like lava down my battered chest

i have given my heart to this plane of lies and beautiful, passionate angst

trickled out the best parts of my waning life in an effort to grow something glorious

and all that was left was welts and purple bruises, razor laced kisses and tremulous mocking laughter

have i lost the shards of inner peace, now become inner pieces, sharp and stabbing the organs that breed any but faint whispers of loss

she leaned in and softly spoke her name, death she said in a throaty snarl into my ear

the heat of her breath, the smell of her lust, the promise if nothing but hurt

and i begged for more, to make the pain real, to light me aflame with her tender torture

to rack my limbs with ecstatic instances of slow agony, peel the skin off of me and make love to the quivering remains

take me and make me yours and i will worship your every step, put your cigarette out on my cheek and stab me with your disinterested stare

i am less than nothing and only you can make me whole, can put an end to this misery, make me less

i am yours to destroy