LAMENT

I bowed beneath the smoke where your shadow used to stand The incense curled like questions you never let me speak I reached into the dark to find the memory of your hand But all I caught was winter settling deep into my cheek The floor is lined with relics of the promises you broke Glass-heart fragments glitter where my sorrow learned to rest I breathe your name in ashes till the room begins to choke And grief becomes the language that my ribs have learned the best If sorrow is a scripture, then my voice is out of tune Yet I keep chanting anyway beneath this hollow moon The candles tremble softly like they fear what’s coming soon I brace myself against the dark that swallows all too soon Lament for the love you left burning in my chest Lament for the ghost who refuses to let me rest Lament for the ache that devours me at your behest Lament for the ruin that grief has made of my nest I wander through the echoes of a world without your light Every wall becomes a tombstone carved with all we couldn't say I keep the vigil going just to keep myself upright The shadows lean in closer like they’re learning how to pray The silence feels like velvet pressed too tightly to my skin It muffles every heartbeat till I barely feel alive I offer up my sorrow as a sacrament of sin And wait for dawn to prove there’s something left that can survive If sorrow is a scripture, then my voice is out of tune Yet I keep chanting anyway beneath this hollow moon The candles tremble softly like they fear what’s coming soon I brace myself against the dark that swallows all too soon Lament for the love you left burning in my chest Lament for the ghost who refuses to let me rest Lament for the ache that devours me at your behest Lament for the ruin that grief has made of my nest I hear you in every flicker of dying light a shiver, a warning, a half-remembered prayer. I call for you, and the walls breathe back. I scream your name until the rafters crack, until the ritual breaks, until the grief finally answers. Lament for the love you left burning in my chest Lament for the ghost who refuses to let me rest Lament for the ache that devours me at your behest Lament for the ruin that grief has made of my nest