I was raised in the echo
Where every voice became a rule
Fear wore the clothes of wisdom
And obedience looked good on you
So I bent to keep the peace
Let the world decide my name
Till I looked into the mirror
And barely knew my face
I learned to smile on cue
Learned to vanish just enough
Called it love, called it goodness
Called it being strong
But there’s a cost to going quiet
To becoming what they ask
You can lose yourself so slowly
You don’t know till looking back
Chorus
Now I only bow to what is true
Only give what I believe
I’ve been carrying other people
I won’t hand them all of me
Call it freedom, call it fire
Call it coming back at last
I was never meant to live
Without my hand on the latch
There were prisons with no bars
Only habits dressed like faith
Only stories I kept serving
Long after they had changed
Every time I left myself
Something in me faded out
Not because the world was cruel
I just forgot my way back out
Now I know the sound of warning
I know the weight of borrowed shame
I know fear can wear a halo
And still ask me to disappear
I’m done confusing silence
With being good or being strong
I’m done calling self-erasure
Somewhere I belong
Chorus
Now I only bow to what is true
Only give what I believe
I’ve been carrying other people
I won’t hand them all of me
Call it healing, call it waking
Call it seeing through the dark
I was never meant to live
With someone else inside my heart
Bridge
I don’t need to fight the whole world
Just to stand inside my name
I don’t need to lose my softness
Just to stop giving me away
There’s a voice beneath the noise now
And I hear it clear at last
Every step I take is mine now
With my hand on the latch
Final Chorus
Now I only bow to what is true
Only love the way I mean
I will not trade my deepest center
For approval dressed as peace
Let the world be full of pressure
Let it ask what I won’t have
I was never meant to live
Without my hand on the latch
AlchemistBohemian424
