Wolf Beneath My Skin

I met it where the forest bends,

Past the place where daylight ends.

Eyes like coal and breath like frost,

A creature born from all I lost.

It didn’t growl, it didn’t flee,

It just stood there,

watching me. Like it already knew my name,

Like it came from where I came.

I thought I ran fast enough…

But some things don’t give you up.

There’s a wolf that followed me home,

Through every place I’ve ever gone.

It walks behind my tired feet,

In every shadow I meet.

It’s not just teeth and bone and fear,

It’s every thought I couldn’t clear.

It learned my silence,

learned my skin— And now it lives underneath my grin.

Some nights I hear it in the hall,

Scratching softly at the wall.

Not to hurt, not to break through— Just reminding me what I

knew. That you can leave the forest far,

But it travels where you are.

And every scar you try to hide Still has teeth on the

inside.

And I tried locks,

and I tried light… But it knows how to survive.

But maybe wolves aren’t only prey,

Maybe they don’t just take away.

Maybe they’re the thing that stays When everything else fades.

Maybe what I call my pain Is just a part of me

I trained To guard the parts I couldn’t save… In its own

broken, loyal way.

It’s still here… (shhhh) But so am I.

There’s a wolf that followed me home,

But I don’t face it all alone.

We’ve learned to walk the same old road,

Carrying what we both know.

It doesn’t own me like before,

It doesn’t win these wars anymore.

It walks with me,

not ahead…

Not a monster in my head.

And sometimes,

when the night runs thin… We just keep walking.

Side by side.