[Verse 1]
You slammed the door
Long before you left the house
Dinner got cold
My questions did too
I learned to read
The weather in your footsteps
Hiding in closets
Counting my shoes
[Chorus]
I got rooms in my chest I don’t visit
Dust on the shelves where my childhood sits
You were supposed to be the one who stayed
You were supposed to be the arms
My safe
Now I’m raising that kid inside myself
Teaching him love you never gave
[Verse 2]
Report cards folded
At the back of a drawer
Birthday cake candles
Burned down in the dark
You called it “tough”
But it felt like vanishing
Like I was begging
To be seen at all
[Chorus]
I got rooms in my chest I don’t visit
Dust on the shelves where my childhood sits
You were supposed to be the one who stayed
You were supposed to be the arms
My safe
Now I’m raising that kid inside myself
Teaching him love you never gave
[Bridge]
Some nights I still flinch
At the sound of my name (oh)
Your shadow on my face
But I’m not the same
I’m learning to be gentle
With the boy you left behind
Telling him
“You’re not broken
You survived” (you survived)
[Chorus]
I got rooms in my chest I walk into
Turn on the light
Say
“I see you”
You were supposed to be the one who stayed
But I became the arms
My safe
Yeah
I’m holding that kid inside myself
Giving him love you never gave