Birdcage

Verse 1

Eleven winters carved into our hands

I still know the weight of your breath in the dark

You came back like a ghost wearing my name

Sleeping beside me, miles apart

I trace the cracks I put in your glass

Every promise bent, but never erased

You say this house feels like a rib cage

I say love shouldn’t feel like a brace

Pre-Chorus

I don’t know how to hold you

Without tightening my grip

I don’t know how to save you

From the man that I was

Chorus

If I built you a birdcage

I swear it was never a prison

I just didn’t know

How to love without fear in my chest

You’re saying freedom is distance

But you’re crying in my arms

Tell me how to set you free

Without losing your heart

Verse 2

There’s another voice calling your name

I hear it echo when you go quiet

Still you come back and rest your head

Like I’m the only truth you trust

We say “I love you” like a truce

Like a wound we refuse to cauterize

You’re halfway out the door again

But your hands still memorize mine

Pre-Chorus 2

If I could bleed out the damage

If I could bury my pride

I’d learn how to stand beside you

Not stand in your way

Chorus

If I built you a birdcage

I swear it was never a throne

I just wanted you safe

From the parts of me I didn’t own

You say you need open skies

But you keep coming home

Tell me how to set you free

When my soul still knows yours

Bridge (drop everything back)

Kaitie…

I am not the bars

I am the hands shaking as I open the door

If love is letting go

Why does it feel like dying on the floor

I’ll watch you choose yourself

Even if you choose away

Just don’t call it a cage

When I’m still learning how to stay

Final Chorus (bigger, aching)

If I built you a birdcage

I’ll tear it apart with my teeth

Let the sky take everything

Except the love underneath

If freedom means breaking

Then let it break me clean

Just don’t forget

I loved you in every way I knew how to be

Outro

I don’t want to own your wings

I just want to be the place you land

If you ever choose to come back

I’ll be here

With open hands