She learned how to disappear in a high wood bathroom stall,
White dust promises she couldn’t outrun at all
He said love was a hammer, said pain was proof,
She wore it like a bruise she couldn’t remove.
She slept with the radio low, windows cracked,
Every dream she had folded, never unpacked,
He kept her small so he could feel tall,
She called it survival, but it felt like a fall
You can bury the damage, bury the blame,
It don’t stay dead, it just changes its name,
I didn’t die easy, I didn’t go free,
You can bury the past —
But you won’t bury me.
There’s a softness in strength when it’s earned the hard way,
When you’ve lived through the night and still welcome the day,
She doesn’t need saving, doesn’t need grace,
She made something holy out of getting away.
She’s the best thing you’ve ever seen
And she never says things she doesn’t mean
She has a family,, one that’s her own
She’s still out there runnin, but she’s not alone.
Bridge
There’s a town somewhere east of the life that she left,
Where a girl learned that loving don’t have to mean theft,
She still checks the mirror more than most people do,
Still flinches at voices coming out of the blue,
But she’s sitting at tables she chose for herself,
Got her name on a lease and some books on a shelf,
And the man that she loves doesn’t raise up his hand —
He just listens, and learns her, and tries to understand.
Final Verse
She calls her mama on Sunday, talks longer now,
She plants things in the yard though she ain’t sure how,
Laughs a little louder than she used to dare,
There’s a lightness about her like she’s got more air.
She still carries the scar like a river does stone —
Worn smooth by the water, not broken, not gone.
Final Chorus
You can bury the damage, bury the blame,
It don’t stay dead, it just changes its name,
I didn’t die easy, I didn’t go free —
You tried to bury the past,
But you couldn’t bury me.
This girl from the north,you couldn’t bury me.
