Home Alone

I clock out under flickering lights, same tired neon glow

Scroll my phone in the parking lot, nothing new I need to know

Every post is another performance, everybody on a stage

I’m just standing in the background while the world collects its praise

At the shop I’m all one-liners, “Yeah, I’m good, man, how ’bout you?”

Make ’em laugh around the coolers, hide the hollow coming through

Shake hands at the get togethers, “Work is fine, I can’t complain”

They don’t see the quiet version driving home through midnight rain

I am not some ghost behind the curtain

I’m not cruel, I’m not unkind

I just never learned to sell my hurt

With a slogan and a headline

And I come hoome… to nobody at the doooor (ooooh)

Shoes in the hall, but they’re only ever mine on the floor

I keep the liiights low, pretend I like the quiet glow

But the years fly by like updates on a timeline

And I am still… alone… [falsetto glide, drop to chest]

Still alone with nowhere else to go

All the apps say “sell your story,” turn your life into a pitch

Have a take on every headline, pick a side and dig that ditch

I’ve got hobbies, I’ve got records, I’ve got books and busted strings

But it feels like no one sees you if you’re not a thousand flashing things

So I put on a show at birthdays, crack a joke when someone cries

Play the clown at coworkers’ happy hours, keep the hurt behind my eyes

’Cause it feels like this whole era only listens when you scream

While the soft ones and the shy ones fade to background in between

I am not too quiet to be worthy

I am not too simple to be loved

I’m just living in a season where the loudest

Get the echo that the rest of us dream of

And I come hoome… to an echo and a sigh (my name)

Four bare walls and a screen that keeps on asking me “go live?”

I leave the TV on for company and fall asleep to endless shows

While the years slide by like comments in a feed

That nobody else… knoooows… [high falsetto]

Nobody else knows

This is for the ones who play it fine

Smile on stage, breaking off the line

For the quiet after parties, when the laughter’s off their face

When the mask is on the table and the room is just empty space

Maybe someday every lonely heart like mine

Finds a hand that doesn’t need a headline

And we come home… [long falsetto run, trembling]

Just to be alone.