I wake alone inside a cathedral ribbed with bone,
The walls are papered thick with words left unsaid.
Each syllable rings in a voice not my own,
Echoing from hollows where my old selves have bled.

The mirror shatters; shadows spill and creep—
Their gazes reflect every wrong I’ve known.
I mouth confessions I once swore to keep,
And feel their weight sink marrow-deep in bone.

I keep a ledger etched beneath my skin,
Its pages sewn with every labored breath.
Regrets seep inward, black as mortal sin,
And count the debts I’ll bear beyond my death.

My hands recall the shape of every plea,
The trembling pulse beneath a lover’s skin.
Regret becomes a hunger, gnawing me,
Haunting locked chambers where no light has been.

Beyond these walls, the world parades in disguise—
A masquerade of falsehoods, each mask worn thin.
I trade the truth for labyrinths of lies,
And wear a painted grin to hide what’s caged within.

I’m weary of safety, of the dark things I’ve fed,
Of hiding the creatures my choices have bred.
Tonight, I’ll unshackle the beasts in my mind
And summon every specter I once left behind.

Let the darkness press its weight against my chest,
I’ll claw a window through this prison wall.
If pain’s the only truth my soul’s confessed,
At least I know I’m still alive to feel it all.

So let the hollow room become my throne—
A kingdom built from torment, ache, and unrest.
I face the silence, unfettered and alone,
And forge my freedom from the shadows I’ve suppressed.