Pardon my reflection

…I’m scared / of what I’ll find.

A borrowed face

(in empty space)

where mirrors tell me lies.

Pardon my conviction

truth is hard / to buy.

They price my bones

(with things they own)

Now watch me burn alive.

But do not go gentle

(do not go gentle)

into that good night.

(…good night…)

The scariest rituals

are the ones we call traditions.

Say it like you mean it

(mean it)

Pray it like you mean it

(mean it)

Break it like you mean it

(mean it)

Pardon my intrusion

…I’m foreign to myself.

Each doorway speaks

(in languages)

I’ve never learned to spell.

Pardon my delusion

the path dissolves / to smoke.

Walking blind…

…I might find

the parts of me that broke.

I stumbled through cathedrals

built from my mistakes.

Genuflecting to the ghosts

of choices I can’t shake.

The echo of my footsteps

(footsteps)

sounds like someone else’s name.

A stranger’s voice reminds me:

You choose—who takes—the blame.

The scariest rituals

(the ones we never question)

The scariest rituals

(the ones we teach our children)

Say it like you mean it

(mean it)

Pray it like you mean it

(mean it)

End it like you mean it

(mean it)

Pardon my defiance

(defiance)

…it’s all I have to give.

With teeth bared wide,

at those who lied,

about the way / to live.

Pardon my insistence

(insistence…)

on tearing down the shrine.

The sacred falls…

when someone calls…

these rituals—by name.

But I won’t surrender

(to the dying of the light)

No, I won’t surrender

(to the dying of the light)

…I won’t surrender…