Beneath the False God

 

The coldest rain pours over me,

The raindrops of shadows and memories drench me to the bone,

Cute and scary meet-ups – just us,

Frozen, dangerously numb, I am still here.

…

You and I were never meant to stay forever,

Even when the moon kissed our evenings from the sky above.

…

I endured my fate, filled with torment and sweet pain,

I died several deaths while still alive.

Your touch was fire, purifying my soul,

Your voice was the nightmare I dreamt while held in your hands.

And I wanted every piece of me to shatter until I was free,

Until I was able to choose my path.

Every time I pictured myself away from you,

I felt suffocated, yet trembling at what might come

To grow my own wings, not angelic but wings nonetheless.

I drained my tears, trying not to bleed myself dry,

Worshiping you like a toxic religion, brainwashed, I prayed on my knees,

Waiting for your salvation becoming my own damnation.

…

But every pain washed me clean of every twisted sin you preached.

Every erased smile is now back on my face, a pure evil grin.

Every punishment now my badge of honor, a mark left on my skin.

In the end, my past self vanished beneath the preaching of the false god.

I stand still, on my own, with a voice loud and clear –

Message send,

Response is not required; I was brutally direct.

The coldest rain pours over me,

The raindrops of shadows and memories drench me to the bone,

All the dirt is washed away,

The Misery is no longer living in me!

The Visit

 

No fear, no pain, no sleep, no peace.

…

I open the wooden door for a long walk

But I hear the wolf’s howl, filled with sadness, an echo of loneliness.

I stand frozen, unable to move, touched by his emotions,

Only the dread is never meant to be felt.

My eyes are filling with tears, waves of grief flood every cell of me,

My forgotten memories come like lost movies black-and-white,

Ready to be seen, ready to remind me of the child I was.

The wolf comes near, a blurry shadow at the edge of the misty forest,

His songs are filled with hunger and regret,

Lone wolf – wandering the woods aimlessly, with no need to know where to go.

Scared, I close the door, putting a barrier between me and the approaching howl.

Yet mesmerized, I listen to what he tells me – a story heavy

– Only the fittest can survive.

He is coming closer – he needs a companion even for a minute or so.

His cries bring back the hidden insecurities, moments of my past

Entwined with the unnatural meeting we share.

He is the singer of this horrid song and I am the audience enchanted tone by tone.

My thoughts keep messing with me – so hopeless as if I never was at all.

And he sits in front of the door, mourning whatever he lost,

Roaring sounds shake me to the core – I sink deep into my feelings,

Consumed by powerlessness against the turmoil coming from his throat.

Enchanted, I go through every state of his being,

Emotional exhaustion and then he is gone.

…

The forest is now silent, just a flashback of a life once lived.

Only the faint reminiscence of the presence I felt.

My mind is now black, weary of the encounter I just had.

And on the threshold of my cabin, I still stand quietly

Engulfed by the warmth of who I am now -

No fear, no pain, no sleep, no peace.

The Song I Never Played

 

What would have happened if I had never stopped playing the piano?

Would my life have turned into a beautiful song heard across the world?

Would I still be so insecure about my compositions,

My lyrics forgotten on a hard drive?

What would have happened if I had said nothing and simply kept playing

The melodies inside my head – would I have become a true composer?

What if I had never failed that crucial math exam?

Would I have become fluent in German,

Moving to this country like I once dreamt?

What if I hadn’t backed down and tried to study Asian languages at university?

Would I have travelled across Asia like I always wanted?

What would have happened?

–  A question I have asked myself too many times

When regret feels larger than everything I have achieved so far.

…

But I chose poorly – the times were different, my worldview limited,

Unsure of what I could and couldn’t do…

So many wasted opportunities.

And now I try to make peace with those choices, never quite happy.

As a little child, scared of an angry adult, I quit music

– My first and biggest heartbreak.

I still mourn the lack of resources – small town problems.

Circumstances led to the exam failure, though it was never my greatest regret.

I still blame my younger self for never trying again to switch my major.

It was never the change of city I feared, only my ability to succeed.

…

And now I still ask the same questions, mostly out of habit, knowing it is too late.

My career no longer brings the joy I once had.

I lack creativity, I hate working with numbers.

The only glimmer of hope is the wordplay I have in the evenings when no one is watching

When I can safely break down in tears, tired of the small, stupid daily games I play.

And in the middle of the night, tucked in bed, I still wonder

What might have happened if I stayed with the piano

Instead of standing frozen among strangers in the dim concert hall

Letting others sing the life once I knew as mine.

For a couple of hours, I let my body feel the life that slipped past me.

And every weekend, like clockwork, I pour my heartbreaks into poems like this one,

Stubbornly, I try to keep the last fragment of my soul alive.

Somewhere between the vocals of the songs I listen to and the words I claim as mine,

A small, quiet part of me still refuses to fade away,

It keeps me breathing, something I hold onto.

Yet I drift without direction, unable to see my path ahead.

I never stop moving simply because another day arrives,

Though the life I have feels empty, unfamiliar -

Just another adult demand…