Picture Perfect Hurts

Powder on the bruise

Cover up the mess at home

“Smile for the camera

Babe”

I freeze

Then turn to stone

Chasing every angle

Hold my breath till I’m a doll

They clap for my reflection

But they never see the fall

You say I’m lucky

Like I’m living in a dream

If you heard the shouting

You’d know what I mean

I’m so tired of being picture perfect

Holding up a frame that’s cracked inside

Fake smile painted on for the surface

So you don’t see the nights I cry

It’s too much to take

I’m shaking

I don’t want this role I’m playing

I’m so tired of being picture perfect

I just wanna be alive

Dinner at the table

Forks tap over swallowed rage

We pose like we’re a story

You’d rip out from a magazine page

You only see the highlight

You don’t hear the breaking glass

You never taste the silence

When every word could be the last

You call it flawless

But you never really look

If you read the margins

You’d drop this perfect book

I’m not your trophy

I’m not your lie

I’m done pretending I’m alright

If I start shaking

Let me shake

If I start crying

Let it rain

I don’t want it

I don’t want to be fake

I won’t be picture perfect

I’ll be messy

I’ll be real

If that makes you turn away

At least I know what I feel