Heartbeat low

Room stays quiet

Curtains blur the hours

Until time gives up

No name needed

No past needed

Just your voice

And the lock

Keys turn slow

Every morning

“Good morning” gentle

Never warm

Food goes cold

I don’t notice

Hands too steady

Mine forget

When you touch me

Thoughts go soft

Like I’m sinking

On purpose

Can I call you brother

If it makes me calm

If it keeps me from shaking

You say you love me

And I let it work

When the walls stop talking

Am I being held

Or being hidden

I don’t ask anymore

Picture frame

Face turned down

Someone else

In the glass

“You’re so similar”

You say softly

Like it’s comfort

Like it’s facts

I learn the rules

I stay useful

I fill the gap

And I smile

Can I call you brother

If it makes this clean

If it turns the panic quiet

You say you love me

Like it’s mercy

Like it isn’t violence

Am I being saved

Or being kept

I don’t know anymore

Don’t touch me

Don’t come closer

Don’t look at me like that

…don’t go

Outside feels like noise

Inside feels like air

I hate that I need it

I hate that it works

Don’t play innocent

You know the shape of this

You built it gentle

You didn’t break me loudly

You made it normal

You made it “care”

And I still stay

Because leaving

Feels worse

Can I call you brother

When I’m losing words

When I can’t tell love from terror

Love and fear

Same heartbeat

Both of them feel familiar

If I name this feeling

It feels safer

Like it won’t take more

Door stays closed

Room stays kind

I stay quiet

I stay inside

I say “I love you”

Not because it’s true

Because it works

Because I’m here