Tangled in One Body

From the ashes of silence to the ink of truth

Image by Đậu Photograph.

Identities and written rules collide,
“you only have one life,”
then why did I have more?

Abomination
weird twist,
damned condemnation

Tangled in one body,
I’ve lived a hundred different lives

I was the shy, weird kid,
lost in my mind,
the world outside was
too cruel to be held
by little hands and a little heart

I was the reckless teenager,
quickly jumping into fires,
burning in the sensation
of dark matter

Shadows invaded my mind,
hands became bloodied,
sinful thoughts consumed the light,
there was
nothing besides death and wrath

Fragmented love
wrapped in shattered glass,
cut my heart in half,
betrayal, lies, no consent

My love was a game
in the lands of their hands

Abandonment and abuse
laced into childhood’s foundations,
growing in a house littered with traps,
fear was my bedtime companion,
silence stitched into my lips,
so that I could survive

I’ve been many things,
survived the darkest times,
but I became something else,
something darker, rougher, twisted,
and still, a soft, gentle part breathes inside

In the silence and in the darkness,
I feel at home,
but this home was never safe,
and I was never allowed to be myself

So from the ashes of all I’ve been,
and all I’ve become,
I’ll write my story in crimson ink,
and I’ll do it
by letting myself be free

© River’s Writings 2025

Image by Đậu Photograph.

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