Old Shape (New Skin)

I’ve been watching… for a long time. You felt it too — just didn’t keep looking. The shape underneath… still fits. You say the words like you learned them yesterday but your mouth already knows where they land You scroll past something that should slow you down and feel the flicker — then let it pass Same pause in the room same glance to see who’s watching We learned how to hold the line by feeling where it moved I didn’t stop it either It starts in the back of the throat The thing you almost said It lingers longer than it should Come closer I want to show you something that never really left It’s right there in the quiet we keep stepping over Do you feel it now? The old shape wearing new skin We’ve been here before… Walk with me It shows up in the way we say “it’s fine” before we know what “it” is In how the room rearranges itself around whatever gets said loudest You can feel when something isn’t true but you learn how to carry it anyway We got good at repeating things we never stopped to check And the noise — it makes it easier Come closer You can see it now, can’t you? It’s right there in the quiet we keep stepping over It doesn’t leave The old shape wearing new skin We’ve been here before… Stay with me Stay with me I’m not outside this I took the easy version more times than I can count Stayed quiet when I felt it shifting And I told myself that silence meant I understood But it didn’t I’ve been carrying this long enough that it started carrying me So come in… Don’t look away this time You’ve seen this before just not all at once It’s still here The old shape wearing new skin We’ve been here before… Look at it with me Look at it with me… Look at it with me Look at it with me…