I Climb Out

Intro: Instrumental

Verse 1

I wore their verdicts like a brand

Bent my spine to fit their plans

Every nod I begged to earn

Left another nerve to burn

They measured me in borrowed scales

Cut me down where I grew pale

I kept shrinking, piece by piece

Calling that surrender “peace”

Pre-Chorus

No more bending to be seen

No more starving in between

If I crawl, it’s toward the climb

Not their mercy—this is mine

Chorus

I climb out with fractured hands

No applause, no promised land

Let them turn their heads away

I won’t kneel another day

From the depth I name my ground

Lose their voices, keep my sound

I climb out, I don’t explain

I don’t need their name on mine

Verse 2

There’s a weight beneath the ribs

Where I stored what they forbid

All the “shoulds” I couldn’t meet

Stacked like stones around my feet

I broke mirrors made of them

Shards of doubt under my skin

Let it sting, let it mark

Better scars than living dark

Pre-Chorus

I was begging just to fit

Now I’m done with all of it

If I rise, it’s through the strain

Not their measure—break the chain

Chorus

I climb out with fractured hands

No applause, no promised land

Let them turn their heads away

I won’t kneel another day

From the depth I name my ground

Lose their voices, keep my sound

I climb out, I don’t explain

I don’t need their name on mine

Breakdown

Cut the rope—let me fall upward

Crush the scale—no judge, no number

Spine of iron, lungs like thunder

I rebuild—no more hunger

Instrumental

Bridge

I kept asking to belong

While erasing what was strong

Now I carry all the blame

And still rise without their name

Chorus

I climb out with fractured hands

No applause, no promised land

Let them turn their heads away

I won’t kneel another day

From the depth I name my ground

Lose their voices, keep my sound

I climb out, I don’t explain

I don’t need their name on mine...