Between Bruises & Blooms

Give me the cursed kings,
the shadow-wielding monsters,
the men with blood on their crowns
and entire wars
buried beneath their skin.

Give me the ones
who were never written
to be gentle.

I want their ruined kingdoms,
their terrible secrets,
the darkness curling
around their fingertips.

But more than that,
I want the moment
the sword falls from their hand.

When all that terrible power
becomes something quiet,
something trembling,
something almost human.

Because there is a difference
between loving a monster
and loving the moment
he decides
he does not have to be one.

And perhaps that is why
I keep turning pages,
searching for a softness
the world swore
could never survive
inside such darkness.