[Verse 1] We were blackout poets in motel beds Your hands on my hips, my ghosts in your head You told me I was light, you told me I was grace But I was always a storm wrapped in a pretty face I drank to forget, you kissed me to feel We both lied through our teeth like it made us real And maybe I never knew how to be kind But fuck, I tried—God, I tried [Pre-Chorus] And I know If I wasn’t such a mess If I wasn’t half ash and half flesh You might still be here You might still call me yours Not some fucked-up metaphor For what you couldn’t save [Chorus] Papillon You flew from my hands like a prayer I never learned Papillon Your wings were a whisper and I let the silence burn I would’ve held you softer, I swear If I’d known you’d disappear like air But I crushed you with the weight of me And now all that’s left Is what I couldn’t be [Verse 2] I still keep your lighter in my coat Still taste your name like pills I forgot I wrote You said I loved like a landslide— Fast, and fatal, and never right I saw forever in a flickering spark You saw someone you could fix in the dark But I was never meant to be healed Just kissed, and left, and fucking felt [Pre-Chorus – repeat] And I know If I wasn’t such a mess If I wasn’t all knives and unrest You might still hold me close You might still see the girl Not the haunted house Where love goes to curl up and die [Chorus – louder, rawer] Papillon You flew from my mouth like a truth I choked too late Papillon Your goodbye hit like a car and I still wear the plates I would’ve loved you better, I swear If I had any blood left to spare But I burned it all trying to feel And now all that’s left Is what I couldn’t heal [Outro – soft, breaking apart] So don’t remember me like this Not with mascara on my fists Don’t remember my kiss Just the smoke where I missed Papillon... I let you go And I was the one Who needed wings.
