Never Warmed

Mirror asked.
Mirror grinned.
I don't answer mirrors.
I answer bone.
Pull the glove back.
Read the hand.
One finger white.
Still takes command.
Never warmed.
Never will.
Frost left a mark.
Pain held still.
Glass got loud
in the room tonight.
So I press the cold
till the cold feels right.
Real beats fake.
Ache beats ghost.
The thing that hurts
is the thing
I trust most.
Thoughts can lie.
Rooms can bend.
Pain comes clean
when the mind pretends.
Still alive.
Still alive.
One finger never warmed.
Still pulls clean.
Pain is the proof
that I'm still in me.
Mirror wants a verdict.
Body draws the line.
One finger never warmed.
Still keeps better time.
Still keeps better time.
Still keeps better time.
Can't feel the tip.
Feel the rest.
Bone deep ache
beats war in the chest.
Numb gets loud.
Cold gets true.
White little nerve
cuts the noise in two.
Imagination kills
what it can't touch.
But a dead white finger
don't pretend much.
No grin in a nerve.
No joke in a scar.
The body don't lie
about where you are.
Pain don't save me.
Pain don't heal.
Pain just proves
that the world is real.
World is real.
Still alive.
One finger never warmed.
Still pulls clean.
Pain is the proof
that I'm still in me.
Mirror wants a verdict.
Body draws the line.
One finger never warmed.
Still keeps better time.
Still keeps better time.
Still keeps better time.
The pill won't warm it.
The drink is gone.
I don't want it warm.
Warm is
where the ghosts come from.
Numb is a room
with no door in sight.
Pain is a match
in the middle of night.
Small flame.
Cold hand.
Still here.
Still man.
One finger never warmed.
Still pulls clean.
Pain is the proof
that I'm still in me.
Mirror wants a verdict.
Body draws the line.
One finger never warmed.
Still keeps better time.
One finger never warmed.
Still pulls clean.
Ache beats ghost
when the mind turns mean.
White as the frost.
Sharp as a sign.
One finger never warmed.
Still keeps better time.
White.
Still white.
Still hurts.
Still works.
Don't ask the mirror.
Ask the hand.