ROMANCE Poem: Ember, by Navya Krishna

You breathed be mine—
and just like that, I was yours.
At your disposal, at your mercy—
to hold, to tame, to unravel.

My undoing as your conquest,
thread by thread, laced in silk and sin.
Tattoos of bruises you kissed on my wrists.
Cramps from my shakes made you come for more.

And just like the fire meant to burn,
we melted—locked in embrace.

Now that I’ve built my sanctuary under your warmth,
is it selfish to keep you quiet?
Call you mine?
Maybe too reckless and callow
to end up in shackles
by the right being too shallow—
to divide twin flames burning for another,
send one spiraling across dimensions,
and poison a haze over the other’s core.

Unbeknownst to all,
the greatest stories are rewritten—
because epic was always their destiny.