In Flames and Fracture

Static stitching shut my ribcage

Floodlights hum when I blink

City keeps count of my footsteps

Like its waiting for me to sink

This pressure on me crushes and ignites

Carbon lungs teach every breath how to bite

Buried alive, I was seeded and factored

Came back speaking in flames and fracture

This pressure around me locking me in place

But maps turn to ashes and Im gone without a trace

The ground asking for blood, those it can capture

As I turn away, sealed and lacquered.

Raised by alarms, red lights, and countdown clocks

By doors that dont open unless something drops

Learned early how to swallow a scream

When the room goes tight and it smells like defeat

Every promise came braided with wire

Every almost sparked another fire

I chased reflections till mirrors cracked

Found truth in the places I fell through the back

Hit bottom hard, heard the concrete preach

Said “nothing survives without losing its shape”

So I shed my name like excess weight

Let the pressure teach me how to stay

Kept my spine when the floor gave way

Kept my pulse when the faith went grey

I dont drift in hope, I vector in will

I dont wait for signs, I read the kill

Had to drown just to hear what was real

Had to stand in the quiet till it learned my feel

If youve felt that vice in your chest lock tight

Then you know why I dont pray polite

This pressure on me crushes and ignites

Carbon lungs teach every breath how to bite

Buried alive, I was seeded and factored

Came back speaking in flames and fracture

This pressure around me locking me in place

But maps turn to ashes and Im gone without a trace

The ground asking for blood, those it can capture

As I turn away, sealed and lacquered.

I dont trust peace that arrives unscarred

Every calm I earned came post yard

Seen love wear a halo of chrome

Till it asks what youll bleed to let it home

Every fall etched coordinates

Every scar learned how to navigate

I stress test fidelity, I stress test vows

If I can hear the melody, it holds me now

Load bearing soul in a shaking frame

Whole life felt like a tuning chain

When the noise cut out, one signal stayed

Didnt comfort me, just aimed

I dont chase light, I let it hunt

I dont plead case, I confront

Every mercy hit like a fault line shift

Didnt lift me up, just taught me drift

If it stood, then it earned command

If it broke, then it was built in hand

Chaos learned my silhouette

And bowed its head when it commit

This pressure on me crushes and ignites

Carbon lungs teach every breath how to bite

Buried alive, I was seeded and factored

Came back speaking in flames and fracture

This pressure around me locking me in place

But maps turn to ashes and Im gone without a trace

The ground asking for blood, those it can capture

As I turn away, sealed and lacquered

Static gone, but the signal hums

Every wound still speaking in tongues

If the dark asks who let me through

Tell it pressure did

And I followed too