How to Taste Forbidden Fire

Summon night like a velvet guest,

Let it drape itself across your limbs.

Sip bitterness as one savors spiced wine,

Its fire crawling, silent and relentless.

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Press your lips to what trembles yet resists,

Let shades curl around every longing.

Wear scent of decay upon skin,

Perfume of fruit rotting in broken bowls.

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To awaken longing, open doors that lead nowhere.

Walk halls where laughter has perished.

Let each ache drift like incense,

Till desire coils in the marrow, tender and cruel.

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To court terror, linger where light fears to tread.

Let silence speak in tongues unknown.

Feel every tremor as a stolen jewel.

A sharp, unapologetic brilliance in the dark.

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If joy intrudes, hold it close and taste its bitterness.

Let it bloom, fragile and fevered,

Then watch it crumble beneath your gaze,

A fragile treasure consumed by hunger.

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Each sensation obeys its own ritual.

Absorb yourself into the darkness,

Be kind, but keep your distance,

And know that every shiver, every breath

is proof that flesh remembers what the soul dares not to touch.