Autopsy of the Soul

My essence

is a cadaver lying

naked

beneath the searing sting of earth’s

scalpel

tearing through flesh

to get to my core.

Bones,

bare like unguarded truths,

bear the heaviness of passion choked

and words swallowed—

trauma by ridicule.

But defiant is the heart,

relentlessly pumping, pure, raw,

relentlessly feeling

despite the harsh jabs of the world.