Lace stitched tight across my seams, You dressed me up in borrowed dreams. You held my hands, you taught me how To smile and never ask you now. You called me yours, you called me sweet, You placed me softly at your feet. I stayed so still, I stayed so small, A perfect thing pinned to the wall. You never heard the cracks appear, I learned to break without a tear. Soft as velvet, thin as glass, Every touch was made to last. Hold me gently, don’t let go, I only know the way you posed. Say you love me, pull the thread— I’ll fall apart before I beg. You never saw the weight I bore, The hairline cracks beneath the porcelain. You kissed my mouth, you praised the shine, Ignored the fractures down my spine. You loved the way I didn’t move, The way I bent to fit your room. You wanted quiet, wanted whole— Not what was shaking in my bones. You called it love, you called it care, I called it holding my breath in there. Soft as velvet, thin as glass, Every touch was made to last. Hold me gently, don’t let go, I only know the way you posed. Say you love me, pull the thread— I’ll fall apart before I beg. Berubetto ni kakusareta toge [Thorns hidden beneath velvet.] Yawarakasa no kawari ni itami [Pain standing in for tenderness.] Dakishimeru hodo kuzureteku [The closer you hold me, the more I break.] Watashi wa ningyō, yume no naka [I am a doll inside your dream.] I never screamed, I never ran, I learned to love the shape I am. If breaking’s all I’m made to do, Then let me break where you can see. Soft as velvet, thin as glass, I wasn’t built to make it last. Hold me once, then set me free, I’m more than what you made of me. Say you loved me, say you cared— You broke the doll and left her there. Set me down. Don’t wind me up again.
