How Can You Not See?

Got my hair cut Friday

Posted up that same old smile

Friends all say I'm glowing

"Haven't seen you this good in a while"

Yeah, I laugh right on cue

Change the subject, pass out the drinks

But there's a storm behind these eyes

They still say I'm doing fine

I pay bills, I keep busy

Hit the gym, I make my bed

Got a calendar of birthdays

Send the texts I never read

"You're so strong," they keep saying

Like it’s some kind of praise

If you looked past this fake grin

You’d see it’s holding me in place

How can you not see I'm broken?

Every breath feels like it's burning in my chest

I'm hanging on by a word unspoken

Holding the pieces, call it a pretty mess

I'm screaming in silence, hoping

Someone might notice the way I shake

How can you not see I'm broken

When I feel it with every move I make?

[Verse 3)

I clean the house, mow the yard

Say I'm fine in the church courtyard

Laugh at jokes that barely land

Shake their hands, be their “strong man”

But under these calloused palms

My heart’s worn thin like my Sunday Psalms

Every word feels like it shakes

[Verse 4)

Invisible cracks in a midnight window

I’m shattered in ways they don’t know

Holding it together with a worn-out smile

Breaking every inch, every lonely mile

They just see the boots and the back that’s strong

Can’t hear the silence in my country songs

I’m screaming on the inside, but it never shows

Just invisible cracks in a midnight window

How can you not see I'm broken?

Every breath feels like it's burning in my chest

I'm hanging on by a word unspoken

Holding the pieces, call it a pretty mess

I'm screaming in silence, hoping

Someone might notice the way I shake

How can you not see I'm broken

When I feel it with every move I make?

What if I said, “I’m not okay”

Would you leave, would you stay?

Could you love the mess I hide?

The person who’s tired of “I’m all right”

I ain’t asking you to fix this storm

Just sit with me till the morning’s warm

If I stopped smiling

If I stopped trying

Would you finally ask me

Why I’ve been dying

To tell you the truth, I’m tired

Of being the tough one

I’m not a success story

I’m just stunned

How can you not see I'm broken?

I'm screaming in silence, hoping

Someone might notice the way I shake

How can you not see I'm broken

When I feel it with every move I make?