No Monument

Oh Oh-oh No monument Oh I know what it is to keep the ashes Like a relic in the room I know what it is to touch the damage Like it taught me how to move But I am done kneeling to the fracture Done polishing the blame Done making altars out of endings Done calling all of it my name Let it crack Let it fall I don’t need a shrine at all What survived in me is living I won’t turn it into stone No monument I won’t build a throne from what it did No monument I won’t hang my whole life on the wound Let it fade Let it turn back into dust I won’t put my name on it No monument No shrine No crown No monument Coming down No monument Some men make a god of sorrow Wear it heavy, wear it proud Turn the scar into a language Till it speaks for them out loud But I don’t need the hurt to prove me Don’t need ruin for a face Don’t need broken marble under me Just to stand here in my place Let it crack Let it fall I don’t need a shrine at all What survived in me is breathing I won’t lock it into stone No monument I won’t build a throne from what it did No monument I won’t hang my whole life on the wound Let it fade Let it turn back into dust I won’t put my name on it No monument I could carve it tall I could raise it high Give the pain a kingdom Teach the hurt to shine Make the loss look sacred Make the grief look wise Something people bow to Something people call divine But I want the real thing Pulse and breath and skin Not a marble version Of where I have been So let it break Let it go I won’t put my name on stone No monument I won’t build a throne from what it did No monument I won’t hang my whole life on the wound Let it fade Let it turn back into dust I won’t put my name on it No monument Oh-oh No monument Oh-oh Coming down Oh-oh No monument