Papercut

Everybody has a past...

Lemme introduce myself properly...

You met the smile, the handshake, the "yeah, I'm alright",

The guy who cracks a joke when something don't feel right,

You met the calm voice, level head, pays his bills on time,

Never saw the years it took to make this life look fine,

See, everybody loves the chapter that they opened on,

Nobody asks about the pages that were torn and gone,

You saw the house standing, though the ground wasn't steady,

Never saw me learning how to carry shit when I wasn't ready.

Before you knew me,

Before the scars turned into stories,

Before the lessons turned to warnings,

Before I learned what people hide,

Before you knew me,

Every little thing was leaving marks on me,

Things I never showed, things nobody could see,

But add them up...

And watch a man bleed out,

Uh, watch a man bleed out,

Watch a man bleed out,

But Nobody ever worries about a paper cut.

One paper cut was trust,

Another came from pride,

Someone promising forever then deciding otherwise,

Watching something good unravel before it got its name,

Late nights searching every memory trying to find the blame,

Learning some people only love you when you're standing tall,

Swallowing words I should've said by saying nothing at all,

Tiny on their own... until they all sink in,

Funny how the smallest things stay longest in your skin,

None of them were fatal,

None of them were loud,

Just enough to change the way I move around.

Before you knew me,

Before the scars turned into stories,

Before the lessons turned to warnings,

Before I learned what people hide,

Before you knew me,

Every little thing was leaving marks on me,

Things I never showed, things nobody could see,

But add them up...

And watch a man bleed out,

Uh, watch a man bleed out,

Watch a man bleed out,

But Nobody ever worries about a paper cut.

So you ask me why I think before I trust,

Why I read between the lines,

Why I struggle to adjust,

Why I notice every change in somebody's tone,

Why sometimes I disappear and deal with things alone,

It's not one heartbreak,

One lie,

One bad year,

It's the weight of everything that followed me to here,

You met the finished product,

Not the factory floor,

The paint, not the rust,

The peace, not the war,

You see the man I am,

Not every version I've been,

You only see what I reveal,

Not what I've survived to get here.

Before you knew me,

Before the scars turned into stories,

Before the lessons turned to warnings,

Before I learned what people hide,

Before you knew me,

Every little thing was leaving marks on me,

Things I never showed, things nobody could see,

But add them up...

And watch a man bleed out,

Uh, watch a man bleed out,

Watch a man bleed out,

But Nobody ever worries about a papercut

So let me tell you about myself...

Where do I start?

You know my name...

But not what makes up my heart.

Nobody ever worries about a paper cut.