Flesh Wounds Deeper than I Once Thought

I breathe fire that warms your squeezing heart

Sharpened steel slides through my torso
Chains pull taught, choking life
Sucking poisoned air
While the only sunlight cuts my rind

Slowly inside I rot and quiver
While you smile, driving needles through my mind
Never before have I kissed the swollen hand
Broken from all the beatings I’d endured

I am a slave to you, not by choice but in calling
Screaming inside for distant reprieve

Excuse me as I exit my hopeless body
Through flesh-wounds deepеr than I once thought
Abandon life that I once wrought