LIWAYWAY — Tikbalang | The Mind-Grazer

Isinulat ni Dan Mar Natalio

I

A shadow bends the forest where thoughts begin to rot

It waits where memory loosens like wet rope in the rain

You swear you hear your heartbeat slipping from its spot

As if something else is learning how to pulse inside your brain.

II

It does not follow footsteps—only fractures in your mind

And lingers where your oldest fears were buried, still alive

It gazes through the truths you hoped it wouldn’t find

And whispers which emotions should or should not survive.

III

It tells you secrets in a voice that sounds like a horse

Rewritten memories opened like forbidden doors.

IV

It breaks and twists the woods to mimic every lie

You’ve told yourself in darkness when no one else could see

Each branch bends closer, asking if you’d like to try

To trade your thoughts for shadows it can keep eternally.

V

It doesn’t steal the path, you give it up in fear

When the ground begins to echo with your name beneath the bark

You follow voices shaped like guilt you’ve held for

wonder when the daylight started tasting just like dark.

VI

You think you’re walking forward, but your mind is walking back

And something else is steering what your thoughts begin to track.

VII

Your vision folds in places where your sanity once stood

And all the forest mirrors tilt to show a different face

It looks like you but carved from all you’ve never understood

A version waiting patiently to take your final place.

VIII

Beware, for it smiles without a mouth for you to see

Its laughter worms inside the gaps you didn’t know were weak

You feel the void—where your mind used to be

And find your voice dissolving before you even speak.

IX

And as the sun wakes, you’re left with thoughts that isn’t yours.