Come in from the city of verdicts
Leave your sharpness at the shore
We are nymphs of the blessed isles—
where nothing must be sown, and everything still grows

A cup for the clenched jaw
A kiss for the law

Beyond the salt-bright boundary, beyond the iron streets,
A chain of quiet islands where the daylight never keeps
A ledger of your breathing, no tally of your hours—
Only fruit that lifts its head from unplowed, patient flowers
Here the wheat is born in air, the ocean hums in rhyme,
And waves unbutton minutes, letting tired hearts unwind
But you arrive with courtroom eyes, with pockets full of "should"
A marching drum in your ribs where peace once softly stood

So sit with us in amber dusk, let laughter rinse your skin
We don’t sell you innocence—
we teach you how to breathe again

Unclench. Unlearn. Undo
Let it be enough for you

Drink, drink—Nepenthes on your tongue,
Let the clang of "must" go quiet where it’s hung
Let the judges lose their language, let the clocks forget their teeth,
Let the heavy thing called meaning loosen in your breath
Drink, drink—warm and sly,
A gentle sabotage of shame beneath a velvet sky
If truth is just a blade you hold too tight,
Let it sleep tonight

Nepenthes…

Listen—across the water, you can hear the mainland sing:
A mirror that demands a shine, an echo that agrees,
A hush that washes ink away until your names decay,
A blanket saying "stay" a knife that makes you pray
A fog that eats your questions, neon mouths that beg for more,
And drums that turn the street to stage, then kick you out the door

We know them. We’ve watched them
Not demons with a title—
Just habits living near

So we pour Nepenthes slowly,
not to erase your life,
but to loosen the grip of it,
to soften the sharp knife

Unclench. Unlearn. Undo
Let it be enough for you

Drink, drink—Nepenthes on your tongue,
Let the clang of "must" go quiet where it’s hung
Let the judges lose their language, let the clocks forget their teeth,
Let the heavy thing called meaning loosen in your breath
Drink, drink—warm and sly,
A gentle sabotage of shame beneath a velvet sky
If truth is just a blade you hold too tight,
Let it sleep tonight

On these islands, we name no servants aloud—
Only the motions they leave in the blood

Mirror-bright hunger
Honeyed obedience
Ink-washing silence
Velvet refusal
Neon as scripture
Drums as anesthesia

A cup raised at the shoreline,
a sip that makes the mouth less tight
We do not judge you—
we teach you not to flinch

One sip, and guilt forgets its script
Two sips, and pride learns how to slip
Three sips, and sorrow turns polite,
sits in the corner, stops picking fights

Keep your past. Keep your scars
Keep your love, if it doesn’t tear you apart
But give us the theatre of being "fine"
and let that crown fall into brine

The sea keeps time in slow blue hands,
The stars lean low like listening friends
The first gate opens, soft and clear—
And what you feared becomes less near

Drink, drink—Nepenthes on your tongue,
Let the clang of "must" go quiet where it’s hung
Let the judges lose their language, let the clocks forget their teeth,
Let the heavy thing called meaning loosen in your breath
Drink, drink—warm and sly,
A gentle sabotage of shame beneath a velvet sky
If truth is just a blade you hold too tight,
Let it sleep tonight

Drink—before the mirror asks its price,
Before the echo buys your voice with being "nice"
Before the hush becomes a missing,
Before the blanket turns to stone,
Before the fog makes "why" unknown,
Before the neon eats tomorrow,
Before the drums drown out the bone
Drink here, where nothing must be earned—
and even failure can be learned
as just a human sound, the waves can carry down

We hold the cup, you hold the choice
Come in. Exhale. Unclench your voice