I found a staircase carved into thunder
Each step a tooth pulled from sleeping beasts
The air tasted of copper
And half-remembered hymns
I climbed until my name fell off my shoulders
And rolled back into the darkness like a coin
Mirrors waited
Cracked and sighing with old weather
And when I reached for one
It bit my hand
A lantern swung from the jawbone of a tree
Older than remorse
Moths gathered like ash in my mouth
And taught me to speak
In vanished dialects
Even the silence had a pulse
I tried to pray once
But the sky folded its arms
Every word transformed into wolves
Who wouldn't approach me
The horizon was a wound stitched with lightning
Far below
Cities slept in the stomachs of drowned bells
Their windows flickering with dreams left unclaimed
I wanted to wake them
But my hands resembled rivers
And everything I touched forgot its shape
By dawn
I had grown antlers made of frost
And a mouth full of rain
The staircase ended in nothing
Except the sound of wings
Turning to glass

𝙱𝚎𝚗𝚝, 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝
𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜,
𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎;

𝙻𝚊𝚙𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚛,
𝙼𝚢𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚗 𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚋𝚕𝚎,
𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎 𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚖𝚘𝚔𝚎.

In sun dappled lawns
Runs a golden rivulet
Copper-pod tree crowns

Hands covered in copper,
we kissed
down by the staircase
near period 5th.
You held my waist
all thoughts wilted away
hands covered in copper
we kissed the bad memories away.