[Verse 1] You only said "good job" When I wasn’t me Gold-star daughter For your broken three Gave my blanket To the girl who always coughed Gave my patience To the boy who never stopped Gave my shadow To the brother away Kept the leftover silence Just for me [Pre-Chorus] Their hands felt warm But not for me I watched it all From the edge of the seat [Chorus] So I drew myself a doorway Line by line I slipped away Ink for blood and bone for paint Trading days I couldn’t save If they never meant to hold me I would frame my own embrace Every stroke a little thinner Every color drains my face [Verse 2] Closed my heart Like a bedroom door Taped the cracks In the hardwood floor If I didn’t need I couldn’t be refused If I didn’t ask I couldn’t be accused So I sketched a friend On a crumpled page They stepped right out Warmed my tired face Doctor’s ink on crumpled page “Count the seasons Count the days” One short year A borrowed flame A quiet girl with an ending name [Chorus] So I drew myself a doorway Line by line I slipped away Ink for blood and bone for paint Trading days I couldn’t save If they never meant to hold me I would frame my own embrace Every stroke a little thinner Every color drains my face [Verse 3] So lend me a year Rayburn Just one borrowed Burning year I’ll sign away our promise You walk beside me here Let me haunt your quiet manor Like a guest who never leaves Lend me a year Rayburn I’ll give you back your freedom If you give that year to me [Bridge] In the west wing Dust and silence Shelves of spells in fading ink Bottles glowing Guarded journals Cures that nobles never drink [low vocal register] “They’d rather bury what is broken Than admit the cracks they hide” Your voice shakes as you unfold them Like a secret Like a crime [Pre-Chorus] [low vocal register] You trace the veins beneath my skin Say “You are more than porcelain” I taste the fear behind your grin Ask “Will you miss me when it ends?” [whispered vocals] You don’t answer with a word Just pull me close till breath gets blurred Your armor clinks against my dress A foolish Holy kind of mess [Chorus] So I drew myself a doorway Line by line I slipped away Ink for blood and bone for paint Trading days I couldn’t save If they never meant to hold me I would frame my own embrace Every stroke a little thinner Every color drains my face [Outro] I was third at the table Now first in your gaze If my heart keeps the year Or steals one more day I won’t beg the hourglass To turn back what it’s done I found a life in the losing I found my place in someone
