TENDER BEAST Ink drip, black tip, crawling down the page, tender little animal still breathing in the cage, teeth in the moonlight, heart under the hide, learned how to carry thunder without letting it decide. Soft paw, hard ground, gravel in the knees, something wild in me still bows beneath the trees, I don't need a crown, I don't need to be released, just enough light in the ribs to feed the tender beast. Tender beast, tender beast, fangs don't mean the love deceased, pressure made the shoulders strong, didn't have to kill the song. Tender beast, tender beast, ink runs black but the heart stays clean, thorn in the palm, bloom underneath, God knows what I mean. Blackrose leaning where the hallway bends, petals collecting all the places pressure ends, I can bare my teeth without biting what I keep, I can stand inside the darkness without promising it me. Ink drip, wrist flick, letters getting strange, every line a little doorway without demanding change, instinct got a heartbeat, mercy got some heat, wild doesn't mean wicked, soft doesn't mean weak. Tender beast, tender beast, mud on the heel, gold underneath, dragged through weather, kept the seed, still got something left to feed. I don't wanna conquer, I don't wanna flee, I just wanna know what survives when the noise quits naming me. Claw marks in the notebook, rain against the glass, some things become gentler because they had to last. Ink drip. Heart hit. Quiet underneath. Still alive. Still soft. Tender beast.
