Not much feels right, but I’ll be okay, Don’t trip on me — I’ll find my way. I’m just stuck in a silent scream, Alone in crowds that kill the dream. It sucks to see what I held tight Now bloom for others in the light. I blinked, I broke, I lost the thread, While they grew strong, I hung my head. It hurts when those I gave my soul Look at me like I’ve lost control. Like I’m a ghost they cannot touch, Too far gone, too much, too much. Each time I cry and wish for might, I hate myself for seeming bright. Adored, admired — it’s all a lie, They see the mask, not how I die. I shift my goals, I change my plan, But still I fail — I barely stand. The results I get, I can’t abide, No matter how I twist or hide. It sucks to charm with poisoned grace, To lead folks into a darker place. To make them laugh, then watch them bleed, All because they followed me. It sucks to see what pain will grow, To know too much, to feel too low. To ruin now with future dread, To live while dragging what’s ahead. And worst of all — the final sting — To think I’ve found the missing thing, Then watch it crumble, rot, betray, And be accused of foul decay.

A Linear Maze of distorted times A Linear Maze of distorted times A repeating cycle of lost lines I move through walls that twist and breathe, shadows whispering lies I too believe, monsters stitched from thought and fear wait in corners, always near. And when I see you. Small, unknowing, wandering blind, a version of me from another time in this labyrinth of the mind. Still unaware of threat and crime Your steps are fragile, your gaze unlit, you do not see the teeth of it. My heart breaks with the weight of need: to gather you close, to shield, to lead, to be the gaurdian you deserve, a steady hand, a guiding nerve. The protection i too needed Looking as blankly as she did But my own footing slips and shakes, my voice is drowned by what my thought miss makes. I cannot lift you while I fall, cannot build a shelter with no wall. So I stand, aching, tethered still, watching you stumble through the chill. I whisper promises into stone: when I can hold myself, you won’t be alone. Wondering if my mom felt so powerless Watching me as I see you go threw this But now, I fight to quiet the djinn, to mend the fractures deep within. And though I cannot teach you yet, I unlike her, I will not forget If a safe pathway can be found Once im on it you'll hear my sound You will see my signals calling you to clarity Ill bring you too the gates before I break free Ill leave trails and markers Tall ladders , kind martyrs Strong tools and cloaks to hide Ill apologize for every time i lied Ill give you everything I use Ill explain every one of my vague clues I wont leave you alone and uncertain If I figure out how to remove my own curtain

ByAST Eyes Sepulchral Covenant In the cataclysm of my nights, where phantoms gnash with eldritch might, I wander through the labyrinthine flame, each corridor whispering your name. Chiaroscuro realms of dread, where angels falter, demons tread, become a crucible of art through me— yet only because your love decreed. You are the marrow of my will, the sepulchral heart that beats still. Soft as the velvet of midnight rain, strong as obsidian forged in pain. You transmute my rancor into grace, my fury dissolves in your embrace. No venom I cast, no malice I keep, for your covenant guards me if shadows creep. Through devastation’s iron choir, I rise, a phoenix from the pyre. The Axis mundi of my mind Balancing a twisted find Removing the eternal pain Allowing me to feel sane Hell itself becomes my loom, I weave compassion from its gloom. Find the rest in the sepulchral course!

ByAST Eyes Your monsters are safe when they wander to me, I cradle the dark like a vast, endless sea. I do not tremble at shadows you bear, For I was raised by my own—I've breathed the same air. I know the shape of a wounded heart’s song, I’ve sat with the broken, I’ve carried the wrong. I’ve walked with the silence where sorrow still clings, I know the soft weight of the night and its wings. So bring me your pieces, your jagged, your torn, The fragments you hide, the places forlorn. Here in my keeping, no judgment, no fear, All of your pieces find peace when they’re near. The dark is a language I’ve learned to embrace, A mirror of pain, yet a tender place. So rest in the shelter my shadows provide, Your monsters are safe let them lay by my side. The touch in your voice, a new dawn is born, A light that unravels the lies I’ve worn The falsehoods I carried, the masks I believed, All shattered by truth in the words you’ve conceived. Your brightness reminds me of what I had lost, A reality buried, my soul was the cost But now I remember, through echoes you give, The truth of my being, the life I can live. So speak, and I’ll listen, my shadows take flight, Your words are the lantern that banishes night. Where once I was broken, deceived by his lie You show me the world through a clear eye And now we discover, when shadow meets flame, That joy can be kindled despite all the shame. The dark and the light, though different in hue, Together they weave something steady and true. A smile that is shared through the trials of years, A laughter that lingers through sorrow and tears. No longer divided, no need to appeal For both of our truths make wholeness more real. Your brightness ignites what my shadows conceal, My darkness gives depth to the colors you feel. In mutual acceptance, our spirits arise, Life becomes vivid threw the sight of 2 eyes So hand in my hand, through the night and the day, We cherish the moments that will not decay. Alive in the balance, together we stand,

ByAST EYES # When balls Find Their Smile In the socket of existence, round and wet, There rolled an ball who had not smiled yet. It blinked through life, observing all it saw— The world in focus, but something felt raw. Then one fine day (or was it in just a blink?) It met another eyeball at the brink Of tear duct junction, by the optic nerve, Where retinas and lashes gently curve. "I see you," whispered the first eyeball, true. "I see you too," said the other, pupils wide and blue. And in that moment, cornea to cornea aligned, They found their smiles in the other's shine. Since what is a smile but to recognition deep That another soul holds the vigil that you keep? That another iris, brown or green or gold, Reflects a universe your lens beholds? They gazed and gazed, those silly spheres of sight, Through day and dark, through wrong and right. No eyelids could contain the joy they knew— When I looked at eye both saw through. To the nerve behind, to the brain beyond, To the consciousness of which both were fond. "We're just eyeballs!" they'd cry with glee, "Yet in your looking, I finally see ME!" So silly, yes—two globes of gloop and light, Finding their smiles in each other's sight. isn't that the truth of being, after all? We're just eyes having a ball, Rolling through existence, wet and weird, Hoping to be seen, hoping to be seared Into another's vision, clear and true— Finding our smile when someone sees us too. For we are all eyeballs in the end, Seeking another eye to comprehend, That to behold and be held in view, Is how we find our smile—me seeing you. ByAST EYES