Real

This one's for the nights I didn't have the words

For the storms I carry quiet

If you feel it, breathe with me

I've been walking with a thunder, I can't sit down

Smiling in a room while my chest drowns out

I learned I had to ache like a family sin

Say I'm fine again, then break again

Gravel in my throat like beech tree rope

A bridge to the sky where the river flows

Some pain talks back when the world goes still

Some pain just climbs that hill

But I ain't here to play pretend

I ain't here to fake the mend

If it's heavy, let it out, feel it, breathe it

You ain't gotta prove you're hurt to heal

We don't need the blade or the bottle or the fire

Just a breath, just a hand, just a quiet

If it's heavy, let it out, feel it

I'll meet you where the quiet turns to still

Hold on to my voice when the night don't deal

I'm not perfect, I'm just

Look, I know the room where the mirror talks back

Where the clock runs laps and your ribs go black

Where the smile in the photo don't match the eyes

And the I'm okay line is a thin disguise

I've seen nights where my thoughts got loud

Like storm alarms I can't turn down

But I found out pain gets small when you say it out loud

And you make that call

Put the weight on the line, put the fear on the wire

Let a friend hold flame when you can't make fire

I'm not preaching, I'm bleeding truth

We survive by telling the proof

I ain't here to play pretend

I ain't here to fake the myth

If it's heavy, let it out, feel it

You ain't gotta prove you're hurt to heal too

We don't need the blade or the bottle or the fire

Just a breath, just a hand, just a quiet

If it's heavy, let it out, feel it

I'll meet you where the quiet turns to still

Hold on to my voice when the night don't deal

I'm not perfect, I'm just

If you're watching the ceiling, pour a sign tonight

You ain't alone, sit tight

Let the phone light up, let a name ring through

Let somebody beat an F for you

I got scars you can't read and name

But I learned to step back from the brink

Bookie at my feet when the world goes dark

Gotta count my breaths till I find that spark

I buried a thousand reasons to quit

But I plant them like seeds till the sun finds it

Call it grace, call it love, call it pure heart will

Every morning's beach, tree, hill

So if you carry a weight that you can't explain

Set it down right here in the sound of my name

We can cry, we can shake, we can stand up slow

Every chorus says you're not alone

If it's heavy, let it out, fear, fever

You ain't gotta prove you're hurt to heal

We don't need the blade or the bottle or the fire

Just a breath, just a hand, just a quiet

If it's heavy, let it out, fear, fever

I'll meet you where the quiet turns to still

Hold on to my voice when the night don't deal

I'm not perfect, I'm just

If you're still here, I'm still here

That's real