We knelt in the cathedral of our ruin,
your hands red to the wrist,
mine trembling with the weight
of every vow we were about to break.
Your name dripped from my fingers;
mine bled from your bitten lips.
Two hymns, twin sorrows,
spilling into the same open grave.
The night split open to witness us,
not sinner and offering,
not worshipper and sacrifice,
but two acolytes of the same forbidden flame.
The shadows gathered like an audience,
silent, reverent, afraid,
as we laid each other down
upon the stone that had been waiting for us.
When I opened your ribs,
you opened mine.
Not in pain,
but in mirrored devotion.
Two gates unlatched in unison,
two hearts trembling like candles
about to be breathed into extinction.
Your blade whispered across my skin;
mine sang along your sternum.
Every cut was a promise.
Every drop of blood, an oath.
You carved your truths into me,
the ones you were too alive to speak.
I etched mine into you,
the ones I was too ruined to hide.
By the time we finished,
our bodies read like scripture,
verses echoing each other,
inked in red against trembling flesh.
“Breathe,” you whispered.
“Together,” I answered.
And so we did,
our breaths mingling,
our wounds warming each other,
our hearts beating a faltering duet
as the ritual claimed us both.
You cupped my spilling light
as I held yours.
My blood marked your collarbone;
yours crowned my throat.
We anointed each other
with the soft, sacred violence
of surrender freely given.
The dawn, horrified and awed,
staggered into the wreckage we made,
finding us curled inside one another’s wounds,
two bodies folded into a single quiet,
a single aftermath,
a single prayer that had finally
been answered by something
older than mercy.
We were no longer worshipper and offering,
no longer demon and devotee,
but a single creature
rebuilt from the bones we broke,
reborn in a ritual
we could only complete
by unmaking each other.
Written by https://substack.com/@whispersbyjuju
Thanks for reading AnureetWrites! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit anureetwrites.substack.com
