In this moment I see the breath leave your lips into the chill of the winter air

Inhale, exhale, you breathe out the words that never form sentences

There is a shadow that stands beside you and follows you day by day

It whispers to you words that scar, words that lie, words that sting

This shadow never stutters; he never sinks nor loses his focus

Using chains and shackles he holds on tightly and demands his own presence

Your flesh is the furthest of his focus as he creeps within your soul

Your mind becomes his playground and within it he makes himself known

In this playground he finds memories, sweet and sour alike

To these memories he then becomes their shadows, creeping within them all

To these memories he whispers words that scar, words that lie, words that sting

While never stuttering, sinking, or losing focus

Until this playground of his becomes shadowed and darkened

The breath leaving his lips into the chill of your soul will then be able to form sentences

He writes within you paragraphs of a story you never read

As these words run through the course of your veins

As the taste of these words climb up into your throat until they reach your tongue and leave a taste that is bitter

He tells you he is strong but he is sadly mistaken

He convinces you his shackles will forever hold you captive, but you hold the key

Unbind, tear, and burn the story he has written and write one of your own

You have the pen he has convinced you he has stolen

His words will scar, his words will lie, his words will sting

Yet this flesh of yours he has tainted has been wiped clean and renewed

Take a breath into the warm summer air, and breathe words into sentences