Ship Me Away

(Yeah… ohhh… mmm…)

Every time I get close, you push me further…

Every time I need home, it’s somewhere I’ve never heard of…

Mmm… yeah…

Born into shadows, I ain’t choose this pain,

Dad in the clouds, mom lost in the rain,

Judge took the gavel, said I needed a chance,

Grandma took me in, but she never took my hand.

They tried to be parents, but the years were cold,

Every hug felt stiff, every word felt old,

We’d fight in the kitchen ‘til my voice got sore,

And then they’d pack my bag, I’d be gone once more.

I ain’t ask for this road, I ain’t ask for these chains,

I just wanted some love, I just wanted my name,

To mean more than a file on somebody’s desk,

But they ship me away when my heart’s a mess…

Ship me away… don’t wanna see my face,

White walls, cold nights, can’t feel no embrace,

Tell me it’s love, but it feels like chains,

How can I grow if you lock me away?

Ship me away… ‘til I don’t know my place,

Same bed, new room, just another blank space,

Tell me it’s love, but it feels like pain,

How can I heal when it’s always the same?

Counselors say “open up,” but they never stay,

It’s a new one next week, got a new name to say,

They flip through my file like they know my soul,

But they don’t see the nights where the silence grows cold.

They gave me labels: “anger,” “risk,” and “hurt,”

Like my life’s just ink printed on a shirt,

But I’m more than the pages that they read out loud,

I’m a boy who’s just tryin’ to make his father proud.

Ship me away… don’t wanna see my face,

White walls, cold nights, can’t feel no embrace,

Tell me it’s love, but it feels like chains,

How can I grow if you lock me away?

They say “it’s for your good” but my heart don’t agree,

Feels like they’re just tired of dealin’ with me,

Every ride to a new place feels the same,

My life in a suitcase, my tears in the rain.

(Yeah… ohhh…)

From what? From me? Or from what they can’t face?

The fact they don’t know how to give me a place…

Now I’m older, still fightin’ these scars,

Still wonder if love’s somewhere past these bars,

But I’ve learned how to dream in the dark of the night,

How to carry my hope when the world don’t fight.

So if they ship me away, I’ma still be me,

Won’t let their cold hands take my melody,

‘Cause one day I’ll find where my soul can stay,

And they’ll never again ship me away.

Ship me away… don’t wanna see my face,

White walls, cold nights, can’t feel no embrace,

Tell me it’s love, but it feels like chains,

How can I grow if you lock me away?

Ship me away… ‘til I don’t know my place,

Same bed, new room, just another blank space,

Tell me it’s love, but it feels like pain,

How can I heal when it’s always the same?

Mmm… ship me away…

Mmm… always the same…

Mmm…