Receipts

Mirror never gave a verdict.
So I stopped asking.
I read the body instead.
Line by line.
New bruise every morning.
No name on it.
Black and blue map
with no legend on it.
Knife in the knee.
Still counts stairs.
Every step says,
you were there.
Chipped tooth.
Split tongue.
Copper taste
where the words come from.
Strap line in the jaw.
Same place.
Same burn.
Body writes down
what the mind won't learn.
One finger white.
Still won't warm.
Little dead clock
from a colder storm.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing clean.
Just proof
underneath the skin.
Receipts.
Read them flat.
Body keeps the ledger
when the mind walks back.
Receipts.
Line by line.
Pain tells truth
when the mirror lies.
Receipts.
Add the sum.
The only verdict
that ever comes.
Rib rash faded
but the line stayed true.
Receipt for the weight
that the body knew.
Cold hand.
Bad knee.
Locked jaw.
No sleep.
Every mark
got a number beneath.
Empty bottle.
Full glass.
Didn't touch.
Dry pills counting
what they never fix much.
No romance.
No crown.
No stage.
No myth.
Just a man
with a body
that remembers it.
Add it up.
Don't round down.
This is the cost
of coming back around.
Not clean.
Not damned.
Not saved.
Not gone.
Still here breathing
with the lights half on.
Receipts.
Read them flat.
Body keeps the ledger
when the mind walks back.
Receipts.
Line by line.
Pain tells truth
when the mirror lies.
Receipts.
Add the sum.
The only verdict
that ever comes.
They wanted clean or stained.
Good or bad.
Hero or monster.
I don't have that answer.
But I can tell
you the cost.
And the cost
is the only thing
that never lied.
Receipts.
Read them flat.
Body keeps the ledger
when the mind walks back.
Receipts.
Line by line.
Pain tells truth
when the mirror lies.
Receipts.
Add the sum.
The only verdict
that ever comes.
Receipts.
No refund.
No appeal.
Still here.
Still real.
Total reads in skin.
No refund.
No appeal.
Still here.