[Global Vocal Rule: Every vocal sound must contain clearly intelligible written lyrics. Backing vocals may repeat exact lyric phrases only. No humming, wordless syllables, sighs, or non-lyrical transitions.] [Opening Image - close low vocal over rhythmic piano and distant sub-bass] You say my skin remembers What my mind refuses to. Every line becomes a language. Every color leaves a clue. But the story crosses places I can never turn to see. Maybe that is why it looks like strength To everyone but me. [First Movement - clipped percussion enters, low cello beneath the vocal] There is sunlight on my shoulder, With a crescent underneath. Flowers growing through the dark, Black lace curling at the seams. There are measures without endings, Treble lines and bass beneath. Every song I could not finish Found another way to speak. I call it decoration. You call it evidence. You trace the shape of everything I thought I only lived through once. [Central Refrain - deep bass impacts, vivid violin motif enters] My whole life is written where I can’t see. A bird in the fire, a moon underneath. Maybe everyone else reads strength in the ink While I’m still learning what it means. Every color says I made it through. Every line insists that I survived. But survival never felt like courage While I was only staying alive. [Second Movement - steady pulse, warmer piano, restrained harmonies] A phoenix climbs along my spine, Its wings spread wider than my doubt. You say it looks like resurrection. I remember burning out. A hummingbird above a lotus, Small enough to disappear, Still suspended over tenderness As though it chose to stay right here. Constellations climb my neck, Hidden underneath my hair. A private sky I carry Without knowing it is there. You say the stars look fearless. Stars do not have to know How dark the night became Before they learned to glow. [Mirror Section - drums narrow, natural vocal becomes more exposed] I have never seen the picture The way a stranger can. Only fragments in a mirror. Only colors near my hands. Maybe strength is always clearer From the outside looking in. Maybe courage feels like panic When you are the one inside it. Maybe all the things I call survival Are the proof I never quit. [Final Refrain - richest controlled vocal, bass and strings remain rhythmic] My whole life is written where I can’t see. A bird in the fire, a moon underneath. Maybe everyone else reads strength in the ink. Maybe someday I will believe what they see. Every color says I made it through. Every line remembers what I lost. Not a promise that the pain was worth it. Only proof That it had a cost. My whole life is written where I can’t see, But it still belongs to me. I do not have to call it beautiful. I am learning What it means. [Coda - muted piano, low cello, final violin phrase] You say my skin remembers. Maybe I am ready To read.
