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[Verse 1]
You taught me soft hands, eyes to the floor
Speak when you’re spoken to, never ask for more
Sew up your anger, swallow it down
A good girl don’t make too much sound
You called it love, I called it a cage
You handed me silence, said that was my place
But something was humming under my skin
A wildfire waiting to begin
⸻
[Pre-Chorus]
And I—I heard my mother in the walls at night
Whispering low, “don’t you dim your light”
⸻
[Chorus]
I am not yours to quiet or break
I am the storm you tried to outrun in vain
Every chain you laid, I learned to unmake
I am my mother’s unfinished flame
(backing voices, soft at first)
“Let her burn… let her rise…”
⸻
[Verse 2]
You weighed my worth in the work I could do
In the meals I made and the blood I grew
Called it devotion, called it my role
But you were just digging a deeper hole
You took my body like it was owed
Like I was a field and you were owed the sow
But I am no land you can claim as your own
I am the reckoning you were not shown
⸻
[Pre-Chorus]
And I—I hear my sisters in my bones tonight
Breaking their teeth just to bite back right
(low harmony begins)
⸻
[Chorus]
I am not yours to quiet or break
I am the storm you tried to outrun in vain
Every chain you laid, I learned to unmake
I am my mother’s unfinished flame
(backing voices stronger)
“Let her burn… let her rise…”
“Let her speak… let her fight…”
⸻
[Bridge – stripped, almost whispered]
You called me fragile
But I buried you
You called me mercy
I learned the truth
You called me nothing
So I became—
(silence, breath)
Everything
⸻
[Final Chorus – FULL VOICE + WOMEN’S CHOIR]
I am not yours to quiet or break
I am the storm, I am the wave
Every chain you laid lies at my feet
I am the fire you could not tame
(choir, layered and fierce)
“We are the daughters of the fireline”
“We are the voices you buried alive”
I am not small, I am not tame
I am the ending of your old refrain
I carry every woman who came before me
And none of us will bow again
⸻
[Outro – stomps + chanting]
(rhythmic, almost ritualistic)
“Not yours, not yours”
“Not yours, not yours”
(fading voices)
“Let her burn…”
“Let her rise…”
