It tears us asunder and lays us to waste Voices like thunder, a morbid embrace Descending into ruin, all credence defiled Casting aspirations, all love swept aside Lifted up into her arms Crushing the life from me Benighted to all her charms Perpetual dichotomy Disintegrating schism Lost in a reverie Tumultuous conundrum Elucidate this mystery She is my nemesis Bringer of woe, and my death She is my succubus My rebirth and every breath Desecration – these wounds bear no scars Desperation – an exercise in self-abuse Degradation – smoke and mirror masochism Self–deception – cloak and dagger sadism From the smoldering embers there springs a tiny flame Into a radiant phoenix reborn through death again Deep beneath the debris a new seed takes root From whence a towering oak will flourish once more The brightest light casts the deepest shade And in her night, with sanity frayed Never from this dream awoken Somehow the circle remains unbroken