The shadow's hunger

I dreamt you dormant

Sated your silence in the shade

Dressed you up in moonlit treasure trailing to your ankles

"Inheritance of fire; the soul's inner flame."

That's what I called you

Paper armor under the guise of pride

What a woeful masquerade, truly 

A marble ghost, soothed by these mantras, icy, haunting, brimming with antiquated despair

"I do not partake. Indeed, I abstain."

Allow for these silver-tongued glass cages of deception to shine without me

Clay hearts and golden glazes, snakes in satin and souls erased by the tides of transient desire

Mirage with teeth, you cannot bite down upon my broken heart, not anymore

It is when the glint of shimmer and shine turns to blinding flare, gowns rippling like restless waves, diamond-forged tiaras whirling like spells in the air, bewitching jewels, I, the fool...

It is then that falsity shatters -- glass shards melt into tears, streaming down a visage far too fragile to fare

Pierced by echoes of wrongs unnamed, they wear my once claimed wonder

Yet theirs is forged not of their blade's sorrow, nor the defiance against flesh and bone

Instead, it is lighter, airier, bouncier... a fluffy, cloud-like texture, buoyant, even

A singular spark in its own orbit... remarkable? 

Perhaps I still chase its shadow