Been too long behind this mask

[vocals: Gritty untrained male, intimate to strained, breaking into lift] [background-vocals: Subtle harmonies building to group voices in final section] [intro: Sparse guitar, faint banjo pulse, very close vocal] (soft) Hey… [verse: Confessional, low, inward] I thought I had it figured out Head down, just grind it out Do it right and it’ll hold That’s the story that I told But I kept running past the signs Kept drawing thinner lines Tried to carry more than mine Now I don’t know what’s left inside [verse: Self-directed frustration] I made a mess of what I had Turned good things into something bad I gave it all, I gave it clean Still lost everything I need And I can’t say it’s someone else I did this damage to myself Thought I’d earn it if I stayed Now I’m buried in what I made [build: Banjo enters lightly, tension rising] Yeah I—I don’t know how I got here Yeah I—I just know I can’t stay here [chorus: Cry for help, not resolved] Hey! I don’t know how to fix this now I don’t know how to turn around Oh! I held it in, I held it tight Now I can’t sleep through one more night And I—I tried to do it all alone Yeah I—I built a place I can’t call home If there’s a way out, I don’t see God… is there someone left for me? [verse: Lower again, exhausted, stuck feeling] Every quiet feels too loud Like I’m breaking in a crowd Nothing wrong but nothing right Just another sleepless night I keep pacing through the same Thoughts I never learned to name If I stop, it all comes through I don’t know what else to do [build: Strain increases, drums enter lightly] Yeah I—I hear it in my chest Yeah I—I know I need some rest But I—I don’t know how to ask Been too long behind this mask [break: Drop down, almost silence] (soft) I should’ve called… I should’ve said… [aria-rise: First outward turn, voice opening] Ohhhhh— Maybe I was never meant To carry all of this alone Ohhhhh— Maybe all this weight I kept Was never mine to hold [final chorus: FULL LIFT — horns swell, voices rise] HEY! I don’t have to stay like this I don’t have to die like this OH! I see the hands I pushed away Still reaching out to me today AND I—I thought I had to stand alone Yeah I—I thought this was my road But I—I can hear you call my name And I don’t have to stay the same [chorus: Extended, communal lift] Hey! I’m not alone, I’m not too far (Oh-oh-oh!) you’re right here where I are Yeah I—I feel it breaking through I can stand if I stand with you We rise up slow, we make a start You held the line inside my dark [outro: Soft, grounded, small resolution] (soft) I should’ve reached… I should’ve known… You were there all along…