Northern Lights [Verse 1] They said I was too much Like wonder had a volume Like I should fold my colours down And make myself a small room They handed me their ceilings Told me, “This is where you stop” Wanted me in lantern glass With a little switch on top I learned to glow politely In a corner they approved Made a quiet little halo So nobody had to move But something in me shimmered With a sky they could not name Northern lights in my ribcage Green and violet through the cage [Pre-Chorus] I am done with being grateful For a sky that cuts me short Done with every narrow window Calling itself a door [Chorus] You don’t get the northern lights You don’t get to bottle green You don’t get to call me beautiful Then make me less extreme You don’t get the violet fire You don’t get the polar air You don’t get to love the colours Then punish how they flare Let them shade their eyes Let them close the door I am not dimming anymore [Verse 2] They called it being humble When they meant controllable Wanted all my colours But only in a softer dose They liked me as a nightlight Sweet enough to leave alone Then panicked when the aurora Started speaking in my bones But I have spent too many years Apologising to the shade Like every jealous ceiling Had authority to stay No more shrinking into lamplight No more pretty little tame I am not a mood they curate I am sky with its own name [Pre-Chorus] I am done with being careful For the sake of bitter hands I am done with glowing quietly So they can understand [Chorus] You don’t get the northern lights You don’t get to bottle green You don’t get to call me beautiful Then make me less extreme You don’t get the violet fire You don’t get the polar air You don’t get to love the colours Then punish how they flare Let them shade their eyes Let them close the door I am not dimming anymore [Bridge] Maybe I am aurora Maybe I am strange Maybe I was never meant To fit inside their frame Maybe I am afterimage Maybe I am flame Maybe I am every colour They tried to make behave I do not owe them softer I do not owe them night I do not owe an apology For surviving in plain sight If my colour makes them nervous If my voice shakes the room Let the rafters learn my weather Let the ceiling meet the moon [Final Chorus] You don’t get the northern lights You don’t get to bottle green You don’t get to call me beautiful Then make me less extreme You don’t get the violet fire You don’t get the polar air You don’t get to love the colours Then punish how they flare Let them shade their eyes Let them close the door I am not dimming anymore [Outro] I kept the colours alive Through every borrowed night Now watch the whole sky open When I stop asking for the right
