Hollow

You can tell when it’s hollow before the words even land before the smile gets finished before the room shakes your hand You can hear it in the timing in the shine they put on cheap things in the way they call it meaning when it barely even breathes You don’t hate the world for failing you just hate the way it fakes how it asks you to applaud it while it’s folding under paint You were never built for easy praise never made for half-lit, half-true things you want the weight you want the grain you want the line that had to be And maybe that’s the damage too you burn too quick when it comes cheap but you can tell when it’s hollow and you don’t know how to unsee You’ve got a gift for the fracture for the place the surface slips for the second something polished shows the fear beneath its lips You don’t chase what only glitters you don’t trust what lands too clean you keep reaching for the center even when it turns you mean And I know that gets exhausting carrying the blade that way cutting through what isn’t living just to find a thing that stays You were never built for easy praise never made for half-lit, half-true things you want the weight you want the grain you want the line that had to be And maybe that’s the damage too you burn too quick when it comes cheap but you can tell when it’s hollow and you don’t know how to unsee Maybe the hard part was never making something good maybe the hard part was finding a shape that could hold it Maybe the fire was never the flaw in you maybe the flaw was having to carry it alone You were never built for easy praise never made for half-lit, half-true things you want the weight you want the grain you want the line that had to be And maybe that’s the damage too you feel too much when it runs cheap but you can tell when it’s hollow and that’s the thing that makes you keep You can tell when it’s hollow. You’re still looking for the thing that isn’t.