The Hollowed

You don't have to be okay to stay

You just have to stay

I've been sleepwalking through the static, through the noise

Carrying a storm in my ribs like a loaded choice

Every step's a second guess, every breath a fight

But I'm still here, still burnin' in the blacked-out light

I hear the clock tickin' like a threat on the wall

Tickin' down the courage and countin' every fall

And I've worn my regrets like a secondhand coat

Heavy as a river, but I'm still afloat

And I don't need savin', I just need a sign

One damn reason not to cross that line

If you're out there, if you're listenin' tonight

Throw me a spark, give me a light

So I hold on with knuckles white

To a thread of hope in a fistful of night

When the world says drop, I say, "Not today"

I'm not done, I'm not gone, I'm just bendin' the flame

If the ground gives way, I'll learn to fly

I hold on, or I die

Hold on, hold on

Not today, not today

I've tasted rock bottom and it tastes like shame

Like a room full of mirrors screamin' out my name

Like friends that mean well but don't know what to say

So you smile for the world while you rot away

I've danced with the silence, I've fed it my fear

Let it tell me I'm broken, that I don't belong here

But pain don't get to own me, not the way it planned

I'm a match in the rain with a fire in my hands

And I've lost my balance, I've lost my sleep

But I haven't lost the part of me that keeps

Yeah, I'm bruised, I'm tired, I'm runnin' on fumes

Still I'm standin' in the doorway and I'm tellin' it, "Move"

So I hold on with knuckles white

To a thread of hope in a fistful of night

When the world says drop, I say, "Not today"

I'm not done, I'm not gone, I'm just bendin' the flame

If the ground gives way, I'll learn to fly

I hold on, or I die

Let it hit, let it burn

Let it try to pull me under

I've been drowned in my own head