A Sob in the Shape of a Man

Intro

Verse 1

I practice breathing till it hurts

My chest is heavy with stones

I'm wearing a skin that doesn't fit

Tight across the shoulders, tearing at the seams

I've memorized the weight of a human greeting

A sound I make to keep the ground from giving way

I am a house made of discarded paper

Folded into a lie that looks like a man

Pre-Chorus

Don't blink, don't move, just hold the frame

Can you see where I ended and the craft began?

I'm a mess of nerves in a thin disguise

Staring through the holes where I cut the eyes

Chorus

I AM THE MASK THAT WEARS THE FACE

RIP THE STITCHES, CLEAR THE SPACE

I AM THE WEIGHT OF ALL I HIDE

THE COST OF KEEPING IT INSIDE

IS THIS THE VERSION YOU WANTED TO KEEP?

A POLISHED SKIN, A VOID SO DEEP

Verse 2

My hands are shaking at the till

I’ve forgotten the syntax of being alright

I am watching myself from the corner of the room

A stranger buying bread with a heavy, empty heart

I have buried every version of who I was

A list of names carved into a cooling stone

I am a blur on the surface of the world

A man trying to remember how to touch

Bridge

WHO DREW THIS LINE?

WHO LEFT THE LIGHT ON IN THE HALL?

The ink is soaking through the page

The skin is thinner than a thought

I'm a note played on a broken string

I am breaking, I am breaking!

The structure is failing!

The nerves are fraying!

I'm failing the test of my own pulse!

I am a sob in the shape of a man!

Chorus

I AM THE MASK THAT WEARS THE FACE

RIP THE STITCHES, CLEAR THE SPACE

I AM THE WEIGHT OF ALL I HIDE

THE COST OF KEEPING IT INSIDE

IS THIS THE VERSION YOU WANTED TO KEEP?

A POLISHED SKIN, A VOID SO DEEP

Outro

The curtains fall, but the ground is gone

I am falling into the white