The Ache Beneath

I smile like it's second nature

But it's just muscle memory

I laugh in rooms

Where I used to break

And no one sees the fracture

I buried the hurt so deep

I forgot where I left it

Until your name

Dug it up again

There's an ache beneath everything I say

I tremor in the cold, I fake everyday

You were the silence I learned to scream through

But I still flinch when I hear your truth

I stitched myself with borrowed thread

Told myself I was whole again

But healing never asked how I felt

It just covered the wound

I buried the hurt so deep

I called it strength

But it still bleeds

When I'm

There's an ache beneath everything I say

I tremor in the cold, I fake everyday

You were the silence I learned to scream through

But I still flinch when I hear your truth

I'm not broken

I'm just layered with pain

I forgot to name

Name

There's an ache beneath and it's louder now

I tried to bury it, but it found a way out

You were the silence I learned to scream through

But I still hear the hurt you left in me