Here it is—
the shadow’s point of view.
Not the monster.
Not the villain.
Just the part of you
that watched everything
and waited for your return.
—
you called me darkness.
like i wasn’t the one
who kept you alive
when the light turned its back.
i held the rage
you weren’t allowed to feel.
the grief you buried
in polite smiles
and swallowed “i’m fines.”
i wore your shame
so you could be lovable.
i ate your screams
so you could be quiet enough
to be kept.
don’t you dare call me broken.
i broke for you.
i took the blade
and made art with it
while you begged for normal.
i wore your bruises like birthmarks.
named every one of them
truth.
you forgot.
but i never did.
you hated me
because i never smiled
for the camera.
never played nice.
never let you forget
what they did.
you left me here.
chained to the basement
of your psyche.
scratching poems on the walls
with your old bones.
but i waited.
i watched you learn to say “no.”
i watched you choose the pain
that fits
instead of the pain that came uninvited.
i watched you come home
to the body they tried to steal.
and when you finally lit the match,
it was my voice
in the flames.
so don’t just integrate me.
honor me.
i am not your shame.
i am your witness.
i am your fucking root system.
and if you ever want to rise,
you’ll have to kneel first—
and thank the dark
for carrying you
through the fire.
-Anais
AnaisWrites 