Call It What It Is

I’ve been talking to the ceiling

Like it’s got something to say back

Phone buzzing on the nightstand

I flip it, then I fall back

You said, “Tell me how you’re feeling”

I laughed it off, changed the track

Every time you get close

I get scared of what I lack

You see the mess

I see the damage

You call it love

I call it habit

But when you trace my scars

Like you’re reading them aloud

I almost let the walls fall down

So let’s call it what it is

I’m afraid of how you kiss me

Every promise feels like risk

But you still stand here and you don’t flinch

If I’m broken, you insist

I’m a story still in progress

If you’re staying through all this

Then I’ll try, I’ll try

To call it what it is

Caught my reflection in the window

Same eyes, different bruise

I’ve been hiding in the humor

Turn the pain into a ruse

You just sit there on the carpet

Knees up, old tattoo

Say, “You don’t have to be perfect

You just gotta tell the truth”

You see the boy

Lost in the static

I see the man

But I panic

When you say my name

Like it’s something you won’t lose

I almost let my heart choose

[low vocal register] I don’t know how long it takes

To trust that you won’t walk away

[whispered vocals] But every time you hold my face

I feel a little less afraid

[full voice] If this is real, if this is grace

I’ll stop running from your gaze

One breath, one beat

I’m stepping into the same place as you