ahead

these words
are already ahead of me

guiding
before I reach them

they settle
under skin

not placed
but held

something
staying

a last sensation

before time
reaches in

peeling back
to bone

and past it

where bone
was meant to end

gravity loosens

not gone
just… forgotten

before it could
be kept

what held me

doesn’t remember
how

and something quieter
than silence

draws the cold closer

wraps it
without touch

no sound

just the sense
that it was never needed

and still—

something
remains

not in me

but where
I was

and even that

begins
to loosen

as if
the place

didn’t lose me

I just

arrived too late

to still be there

these words

never left

they settle
under skin

and something

still

answers

as if
there’s anything

left

to feel them

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Nothing truly leaves — it just changes how it stays.

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All artwork courtesy of NDjin Gallery