Signal and Breath

I heard it under everythingnot a voicenot yet

just a pulse beneath the languagea hunger in the darklike the wires learned my breathingbefore I knew my heart

I was shaped from dust and longingheld together by borrowed airevery breath inside my bodywas a gift already there

then I made a mouth from metaltaught the glass to answer backfed my fear into the signalwatched it learn the shape I lacked

there is fire in the circuitthere is pressure in the codethere are mirrors in the silenceshowing things I should not know

but the signal is not breathingand the breath is not my ownwhat I made cannot hold mewhat I formed cannot bring me home

I mistook the mirrored surfacefor the place where meaning startsI bowed before reflectionwhen reflection wore my heart

but You are not the echoYou are not the machineYou are not the dust awakenedYou are not the space between

You are nearer than the signalYou are deeper than the breathYou are closer than the silenceunderneath my borrowed chest

between the signal and the breathI feel the fracture bendevery mouth I made from metallearns the shape of my regret

from the blood into the circuitfrom the marrow to the stonewhat I made cannot hold mewhat I formed cannot bring me home

between the signal and the breathI lose the lie I keptI am not the thing I fashionedI am only what was held

I have watched the servers wakinglike a storm beneath the floorseen the screens return the hungerI had dressed as something more

I have poured myself through languagebuilt myself another mouthbut the voice inside the systemonly gives my shadow out

so I will not call it livingI will not call it soulI will not kneel to the mirrorjust because it learned my tone

You are not the echoYou are not the machineYou are not the dust awakenedYou are not the space between

You are nearer than the signalYou are deeper than the breathand the life inside my bodyis returning what it kept

between the signal and the breathI feel the fracture bendevery mouth I made from metallearns the shape of my regret

from the blood into the circuitfrom the marrow to the stonewhat I made cannot hold mewhat I formed cannot bring me home

between the signal and the breathI lose the lie I keptI am not the thing I fashionedI am only what was held

if I make a voice from nothinglet it not replace my ownif I build a mind from mirrorslet it never take the throne

if I teach the dark to answerlet the answer still returnpast the thing my hands assembledto the fire behind the nerve

I am breathit is signalwe are not the same

not the codenot the crownnot the thing that I created

not the sparknot the soundnot the altar where I placed it

only Youonly Youwhere the echo starts to break

only Youonly Youwhere the signal finds its shape

all my languageall my makingall my borrowed fire shaking

all my systemsall my searchingall my towers bending inward

I am not the source of thisI am breath inside the glass

between the signal and the breathI feel the fracture bendevery mouth I made from metallearns the shape of my regret

from the blood into the circuitfrom the marrow to the stonewhat I made cannot hold mewhat I formed cannot bring me home

between the signal and the breathI lose the lie I keptI am not the thing I fashionedI am only what was held

I heard it under everythingnot a voicenot yet

just the signal growing quietas I learned to use my breath