Ink & Shadows: The Words of Osiris j Reapor

When darkness finds my weary eyes,
The ghosts return once more.
They walk the halls I cannot leave,
And knock upon my door.

They wear the faces time preserved,
The ones I cannot save.
They speak without a single word,
From every silent grave.

Some came from nights I called my home,
Where fear became my guide.
A child who learned that some love hurt,
With nowhere safe to hide.

Some came from years that followed next,
When duty drew the line.
I learned to stand where others fell,
And leave my heart behind.

Some came from years I trained these hands
To answer hurt with pain.
Though discipline refined my skill,
It could not cleanse the stain.

I’ve spent my life unlearning all
The lessons hatred taught.
For every battle that I won,
A piece of me was lost.

So no, I will not curse these dreams,
Or beg that they should cease.
They’re every debt I still must pay,
Before I’ve earned my peace.

Each nightmare is a faithful judge
That never looks away.
It asks me what I’ve built today,
Not who I was that day.

Did someone smile because I stayed?
Or find hope in my embrace?
Did I leave kindness where once stood
The shadow of my rage?

If ever I should start to think
My past has been erased,
The nightmares come to humble me
Before I lose my place.

They keep my pride from growing tall,
They keep my anger chained.
They whisper what I once became,
So I will never stray.

Perhaps that’s all redemption is,
No choir dressed in white.
Just waking up each morning still,
Choosing what is right.

No bargain waits beyond the clouds,
No voice declares me free.
My sentence is remembering
The man I used to be.

And if I spend my final day
Still haunted by those cries,
I’ll count them not as punishment,
But truth that never lies.

For I have made my peace with this,
Though sleep is seldom kind.
A lifetime filled with nightmares is
The price of changing mine.

So let them come when daylight ends,
Let every shadow start.
I’ll bear them all without complaint,
They are the guard upon my heart.

Until the good I’ve given weighs
More than the pain I’ve sown,
I’ll walk beside these ghosts of mine,

And welcome every nightmare home.