Three hearts remember What one heart forgets Blue blood keeps moving Through shapes I have left I learned from the hunter I learned from the chased Every wound is a language Every fear leaves a face I borrow the outline I borrow the sound I vanish in motion Without leaving the ground A warning moves over me Written alive on my skin Before you can name me I have changed shape again I survive by becoming What survives in this place Every wound teaches Another disguise I am the mimic Beneath the tide Nothing I borrow Leaves me behind I become— What you fear— I become— What disappears— Lion of spines Serpent below Flat as a shadow Where no shadow should go Three hearts are beating But none bear my name I return as another Yet carry the same pain I survive by becoming What survives in this place Every wound teaches Another disguise I am the mimic Beneath the tide I wear what would kill me And remain alive No face was ever mine No shape was meant to stay I answer every danger By becoming its escape The wound repeats the question The body learns the reply If I must change to live here Which version of me survives? Lion of spines Serpent below Flat as a shadow Where no shadow should go Three hearts are beating But none bear my name I return as another Yet carry the same pain I survive by becoming What survives in this place Every wound opens Another hidden face I am the mimic Beneath the tide Everything hunts me Everything lives inside I become the warning I become the escape I become the answer Before you name the shape I return— But never the same. The shape that kept me living Was never mine to keep I carried every warning From the surface to the deep The wound became an instinct The fear became an eye I learned a thousand bodies But never learned which one was I I survive by becoming What survives in this place Every wound opens Another hidden face I am the mimic Beneath the tide Nothing I borrowed Was left behind I become the warning I become the escape I become the answer Before you name the shape I return— But never the same.
