Where the Blade Does Not Cut

🕊️ Emotions rise, like venom’s breath A serpent coiled in silent depth It waits in shade, but does not bite Unless I step too close, too tight Its poison sleeps within its skin Yet harms me not, if not drawn in It slithers on, its path unknown No need to cage, no need to own The wise just watch it pass them by No joy to chase, no pain to cry The good, the bad, the loved, the feared Are all just shadows that appeared I do not hold the serpent near I do not fight the things I fear What pleases me, I set it free What wounds me, too, I let it be To grasp at peace is still a chain— Release is where no harm remains This heart, this mind, the coils within Are serpents too, beneath the skin But if I do not pull them close Their venom stays a sleeping ghost The thoughts that pass are not my fate They only bite when I create Let feeling rise, and let it go Let shadows slink where they must flow No need to strike, no need to bind Just let the serpent leave the mind For even poison, left unchased Will lose its grip, and slip away