Verse 1 I learned to be so hard I learned to call the hardness strength I learned to keep the soft parts at arm's length I armoured everything I loved I armoured everything I felt — I thought that was survival I didn't know that was something else Chorus Tenderness is not weakness tenderness is the bravest thing I know To stay soft in a world that keeps on asking you to close — tenderness is not weakness it is where the strong things grow Tenderness is not weakness it is how I let myself be known Verse 2 I have seen what happens when the softness is abandoned — the glass that wouldn't bend the feral thing that couldn't land The hardness has its season but it is not the only way Tenderness is not surrender it is choosing to remain Chorus Tenderness is not weakness tenderness is the bravest thing I know To stay soft in a world that keeps on asking you to close — tenderness is not weakness it is where the strong things grow Tenderness is not weakness it is how I let myself be known Bridge (strings only, voice barely above a whisper) Hold the people that you love with your actual hands Tell the truth about the ache before it turns to stone Let the tears come when they come — this is not defeat this is how the living live This is how we meet Outro (voice and strings intertwined) Soft is not small Soft is not small Soft is not — (strings hold, fade)
