Postcards & Gravity

I felt like somebody, felt like nobody

Both at the same damn time

Titles on paper, handshakes and photos

Borrowing confidence I couldn’t find

United Nations rooms and city halls

Winning elections, learning how to smile

Second year director, playing my part

Still checking myself every mile

They said I was lucky, said I fell into it

Like any of this just happened by chance

No degree hanging over my name

Just an opportunity I refused to waste

I learned how to speak the language

Learned how to stand in the light

Still felt the floor under me

Like it could drop any night

On the outside it looked like heaven

Social media called it a dream

But every view came with a quiet clock

Ticking back toward reality

Every city was beautiful, temporary

Every high came with gravity

I was smiling in the pictures

Still trying to prove I belonged in the frame

London nights turned into train tickets

Backpacks heavy, hearts wide open

Prague to Budapest, Rome to Madrid

Paris found us when nothing was spoken

Late nights on the grass with the locals

Wine and bread, lights flickering gold

I said, “Just come with me,” you trusted

Didn’t need to know where we’d go

I lined up the angle by the Tower

Watched you stand up in the glow

Took a picture I still carry

Of the moment my future said hello

Rome lost us after dark

Wrong turns, laughing anyway

Remembered an old movie, followed a hunch

Found the Trevi Fountain, made you stay

Threw a coin like a quiet promise

That love like this would find its way

I looked like I had it figured out

That’s all the world could see

But every step forward I took

Still felt heavier on me

On the outside it looked like heaven

Postcards, stamps, destiny

But every mile came with the fear

That this was borrowed time for me

Every city was beautiful, temporary

Every high came with gravity

I was standing in the picture

Still trying to earn my place to be

When I met you, you were tired of wanting

Things life said you couldn’t afford

Watching everyone else order freely

While you scanned the cheapest line on the board

I told myself you’d never feel that again

Not if my hands could change it at all

So I stopped chasing things just for me

And chased what would make you feel whole

I was scared they’d find me out.

That one good break would break me.

Now I know why it all felt fragile

Why success never felt complete

I wasn’t chasing the world

I was building somewhere safe for us to be

Every city was beautiful, temporary

But you were the constant I could see

If gravity kept pulling me down

Your love taught me how to stand upright in it

The postcards fade, the stamps grow old

But I remember who I was trying to be

Not somebody famous

Just somebody worthy

Of you choosing me