Shadow of Liquor
Silence gathers where the daylight dies
Wearing every color that the dark denies
A river stitched around my bones
Teaching flesh the language of polished stone
Every fold remembers who I was
Then smooths the evidence without a cause
The mirror keeps what I let go
Returning only what it chooses to show
Between the breath and the disguise
Something ancient opens its eyes
Not becoming less of me
Only everything I couldn't be
Like the shadow of liquor across the floor
I lose the shape I carried before
The surface shines, but the depth stays still
The quiet bends, yet never breaks my will
If every reflection asks me who I am
I'll answer with the silence they can't understand
The silk does not conceal, it translates
Turning heartbeat into measured waves
Every movement leaves a trace of light
Like black water learning how to write
Names dissolve where echoes meet
Identity melting beneath my feet
Perhaps a soul was never meant
To fit inside the body that it rent
What is freedom, if not release
From every version demanding peace
What is truth, if every face
Is only time wearing borrowed grace
I close my eyes to disappear
And find myself more present here
No throne, no crown, no borrowed name
Only the fire without the flame
A quiet current beneath the skin
Where endings and beginnings both begin
The night does not ask me to pretend
It simply lets the boundaries bend
When morning gathers all the light
It will not find who walked the night
Only a gleam upon the air
And the memory of someone who was never entirely there