[Verse 1]
Bills in a barbed-wire stack
Every number a fresh new bruise
Inbox like a loaded gun
Aim it at the week
Let it choose
Coffee gone cold in my fist
Teeth grind through another lie
"Just breathe
It'll all work out"
Yeah?
Tell me how
This time
[Chorus]
Mental tax
I pay in blood
Drowning in the daily flood
Mayhem in my shattered sleep
Misery I cannot keep
Rip these chains from spine and flesh
Build a throne from all this stress
If I'm sinking
Hear me laugh
Wear this pain
Like a crown of static ash
[Verse 2]
Smile's just chipped black paint
Peeling at the office door
Small talk tastes like rust
I choke it down
Then ask for more
Clock hands carve my skin
Each tick a quiet crime
I trade my dreams for rent
They steal
One more piece of time
[Chorus]
Mental tax
I pay in blood
Drowning in the daily flood
Mayhem in my shattered sleep
Misery I cannot keep
Rip these chains from spine and flesh
Build a throne from all this stress
If I'm sinking
Hear me laugh
Wear this pain
Like a crown of static ash
[Bridge]
Is it worth the weight?
Is it worth the wage?
How much of my soul
Fits on a page?
[Breakdown]
Let it burn
Let it burn
Every fake concern
Every "you'll be fine"
Etch my rage
In the ledger line
(scream it)
[Chorus]
Mental tax
I pay in blood
Drowning in the daily flood
Mayhem in my shattered sleep
Misery I cannot keep
Rip these chains from spine and flesh
Build a throne from all this stress
If I'm sinking
Hear me laugh
Wear this pain
Like a crown of static ash