VANITAS ― Poetry

iii.

he's my Horcrux. my only Horcrux.

I've split my soul into two and he has it – the biggest part.

I'm in him. he's immortal, and now so am I.

and what despicable act did I commit to create a Horcrux?

I killed the good in me.

and what despicable act did he commit to create his?

he killed everything else in me.

and now our souls waltz above our rotting corpses

while our hearts decay a thousand feet under the ground.

and that's when we fall.

we fall and fall and fall—

we fall into hell the same way others fall into love

desperately, chests strung together like two piano keys

that have never known sound, that can never make art

my feelings are silent against the intensity of his thoughts

we're not angels whose wings got cut, we're just

demons descending to a paradise where forbidden fruits

take the shape of pomegranates and swollen lips

and bloodstained fingertips

and then Lucifer sees us, he tells us—

(I think he might love Tom more than I do)

Climb up from the pits of hell. 

Rise from the ashes of a fire that hasn't yet burnt.

Knock down heaven's door and witness

just how much worse paradise is.

tom riddle laughs. he scorns. 

I'm sure it's the only time in history Lucifer has ever been mocked

then tom riddle takes out his wand, 

he is not laughing anymore

tom riddle kills Lucifer and sits on his bone-carved throne,

makes me sit there with him, 

makes me commit all sins

without any need for confession

and that's when I realize

I'm in the lap of the most treacherous monster in the universe

and yet I feel safe, eternally safe

like nothing can happen to me

as long as my shadow is the same as his

tom marvolo riddle.

I pronounce his name very slowly, very carefully

so every monster will know who their new master is,

from Cerberus to Tartarus to Caronte

tom marvolo riddle.

he has heaven stationed between his lips

but his bones are made from the nine circles of hell.

he grasps my waist, sinks his fingers into the flesh of my hips

I inch closer, I breathe him all in

he's smoke and toxins and all the things that kill me

so I crave them even more

and when he sheds his skin it's to warm mine

it's too dark in the space between our lips

so we kiss and swallow death and allow the darkness

to drip down our throats and eat away at our insides.

when Hades comes down to the underworld

with Persephone by his side, to sit her on the throne,

Tom says—

leave. I already have a queen.

and I smile. the part of my soul that's in him feels kingly.

he has seven Horcruxes, one for each deadly sin.

and they all live in me.

sometime in the future, 

the boy who lived will have to kill me seven times.

I will surely enjoy seeing him try.