Serpent Within

Crawl… deeper… under my ribs… Where the serpent sips the sin I hid… I feel a fracture in the place my heartbeat used to live, Like something hollow chewed the walls and left no fucks to give. Every breath is dripping venom, every pulse a curse, Sanity is thinning out and something darker bursts. A silhouette behind my eyes is carving out a throne, It wears my face, but twisted like a god I’ve never known. Whispers lace my bloodstream, coil around my spine, As if the serpent in my skin is saying, “Your soul is mine.” There’s a hunger in the void that calls me closer… If I feed it, will I lose what’s left of closure? Take, take, take what’s left of me, Drag me to the edge of who I’ve sworn I’d never be. Break, break, break these brittle screams If I become the monster, will I still exist in dreams? I stitch my shadow to my skin so it won’t crawl away, But every night it bites the thread and bleeds into the day. Angels on my shoulder choke, they’ve long run out of prayer, Demons laugh and tell me, “We were always waiting there.” I’m bargaining with ghosts that wear my voice like stolen coats, They echo back temptation’s hymn between my broken notes. If I scratch beneath the surface, tear the flesh to see Will I find the serpent, or was it always just… me? There’s a hunger in the void that calls me closer… If I answer, will I drown or will I smolder? Take, take, take what’s left of me, Drag me to the edge of who I’ve sworn I’d never be. Break, break, break these brittle screams If I become the monster, will I still exist in dreams? If I shed my skin and burn the name I came with… Will the ashes still remember me? Or will the serpent wear my legacy Tear my name from bone and vein Let the sigil bleed and stain These skin bound lies I sever Give up who I was forever I was forever... Take, take, take what’s left of me, Twist me into something that the light can never free! Break, break, break my soul’s old seams If I become the monster… maybe I control the dreams.