[Verse 1]
Eleven forty-seven, phone lit up on the counter,
I read it twice before my thumb goes anywhere near it.
Dish towel still in my hand, dinner's going cold,
Picking words like I'm defusing something old.
He typed "fine" with a period, that period's a warning shot,
I know the difference between a comma and a knot.
So I soften up the sentence, sand the edges off the truth,
Rehearsing calm like it's a part I gotta prove.
Three dots blinking, then they vanish, then come back again,
Writing rough drafts of myself just to keep the room from caving in.
[Chorus]
I'm picking every word up like it's made of glass,
Lighter, lighter, hoping this the one that'll last.
Walking on eggshells, keeping my voice down low,
Just trying to get through tonight without the whole thing breaking slow.
[Verse 2]
So I started keeping record, not to win a fight,
Just so the version in my head stays honest overnight.
Every message sits there, locked behind a code,
The app remembers what got said, so I'm not hauling it alone.
Called my sister Tuesday, read her how the pattern goes,
She said, "baby, that's not calm, that's quiet hiding blows."
I'm learning I can soften tone without erasing fact,
Gentle on the surface, clear-eyed underneath, that's the pact.
I still answer careful, still read twice before I send,
But there's proof outside my head now of where it starts, where it bends.
[Bridge]
Some nights the softening works and some nights it just don't,
No perfect tone unlocks a door that someone's chosen won't.
I can't steady weather just by changing how I speak,
I'm only staying upright while the ground stays weak.
[Verse 3]
Morning comes and I replay the tape behind my eyes,
Counting all the ways I shrunk myself to fit his size.
Friends keep saying "you seem different," voice gone thin and small,
I didn't notice I'd stopped singing till I lost it all.
Picking up the pieces now, not of him, but me,
Learning how to say a sentence and just let it be.
No more rehearsing calm before I even know what's true,
No more softening the edges till there's nothing left of you.
I'm loud in empty rooms now, practicing my name,
Building back the voice that learned to swallow all the blame.
[Chorus]
I'm picking every word up like it's made of glass,
Lighter, lighter, hoping this the one that'll last.
Walking on eggshells, keeping my voice down low,
Just trying to get through tonight without the whole thing breaking slow.
[Chorus]
I'm picking every word up like it's made of glass,
Lighter, lighter, hoping this the one that'll last.
Walking on eggshells, keeping my voice down low,
Just trying to get through tonight without the whole thing breaking slow.