Blood on my Tongue

There‘s blood in my mouth,

Scars on my tongue,

And fire in my throat.

Heat bites the back of my throat,

Threatening to spill out,

To turn everything to ash.

I bite down hard on my tongue,

Blood filling my mouth,

Pain shooting through me.

The scars are old,

but have been broke open anew.

They match my mother,

for her tongue bleeds just as often.

Our teeth are stained red,

Just like the women before me.

There‘s blood in my mouth,

Scars on my tongue,

And fire in my throat.