She came to me in smoke and velvet

Eyes like dusk, too soft to hold

She never spoke, just watched in silence

And yet, I swore she knew my soul

Night by night, she grew more vivid

Every step, a stitched déjà vu

I memorized her every nothing

As if she once had spoken true

She sleeps in me, I feel her breathing

In every pause the world forgets

She lives where waking dares not follow

But I am hers — and can’t forget

They say she’s only dream and shadow

That no such girl could walk the street

But I have touched her in the silence

And kissed her name through grinding teeth

I’ve searched the crowds with hopeless hunger

Sworn I saw her lips in rain

Tracked reflections through the windows

Chased her scent through alley veins

They call it madness — say she’s nothing

A dream, a ghost I made to bleed

But if she’s false, then why this hollow?

Why does she ache so real in me?

She’s carved into the dark I cradle

A quiet myth I made believe

But I would trade this world of waking

To die the death I dream with her

She sleeps in me, not born, but needed

My perfect wound, my sacred sin

And though the light reveals no lover

I close my eyes

To find her again