[Intro - spoken, soft piano, almost apologetic] I'm sorry... I'm sorry I'm crying. Sorry I'm grieving. Sorry my heart keeps beating when you'd rather I stop feeling. Sorry I'm angry. Sorry I'm sad. Sorry my life wasn't quite the experience you had. [Silence] Wait a minute... What the hell am I apologizing for? [Deep bass enters] [Verse 1] I'm done apologizing for being me. Done saying sorry for my grief. Done making pain look pretty so you can sit there comfortably. I'm done apologizing for my tears. Done saying sorry for my fears. Done keeping quiet, year after year, to make the truth disappear. You say move on. I say move where? You say be strong. I say you care? You say let go. Of what, exactly? My memories? My humanity? [Pre-Chorus - building] If I laugh, I'm inappropriate. If I cry, I'm too intense. If I speak, I'm confrontational. If I'm quiet, I make no sense. If I'm angry, I'm unstable. If I'm hurting, I'm too weak. Funny how you love my courage till you hear me finally speak. [Chorus - soulful, defiant] I'm done saying sorry! For feeling everything! Done asking permission for the songs my heart must sing! I'm done saying sorry for the tears upon my face! I don't owe you silence just to make you feel safe! I'm not your doll! I'm not your show! I'm not the version you think you know! I'm done apologizing for being alive! I don't need your approval to feel what's inside! [Verse 2 - blues groove] They say count your blessings. I say I already do. They say think positive. I say, how about you? Try walking in my footsteps. Try carrying my days. Try holding all my heartbreak while smiling through the haze. You want the pretty flowers but never want the rain. You want the happy endings but don't want to hear the pain. You love a survivor when the story's in the past. But don't you dare be struggling while the credits haven't passed! [Break - detuned piano chord] [Spoken, sarcastic] Oh, I'm sorry... Was I supposed to be healed by Tuesday? [Pause] I'll check my calendar. [Verse 3 - darker, intimate] I'm allowed to miss somebody. I'm allowed to feel betrayed. I'm allowed to mourn the futures that were promised, never made. I'm allowed to love my people and still need some space. I'm allowed to close my door without explaining every ache. I can forgive without returning. I can love without agreeing. I can choose another road without apologizing for leaving. I can feel a hundred feelings and still know what's real. I don't need your diagnosis of the things you will not feel. [Pre-Chorus - rising] When did sorrow become shameful? When did anger become sin? When did speaking from a broken heart mean something's wrong within? Who appointed you the judge of how another soul should grieve? Who decided being human was a weakness to conceal? [Chorus - stronger] I'm done saying sorry! For feeling everything! Done asking permission for the songs my heart must sing! I'm done saying sorry for the trembling in my voice! My feelings aren't a crime! And my silence isn't your choice! You can listen! You can leave! You don't have to agree! But you don't get to write another version of me! [Bridge - music almost disappears] [Whispered] I'm sorry... [Pause] No. I'm not. I'm sorry you can't sit with sadness. Sorry you can't face a tear. Sorry someone else's honesty brings up something you might fear. [Pause] But that's your work. Not my shame. I won't set myself on fire just to keep you entertained. [Instrumental - heavy bass, organ, distant female harmonies] [Verse 4 - spoken rhythm, growing confidence] They tell us to be grateful. They tell us to be kind. Then punish every feeling that they didn't authorize. They say we're all connected. They say that love is free. Then draw another boundary when the hurting one is me. You don't have to fix me. You don't have to save my soul. You don't have to understand everything I know. Just let me be a person with a past and with a voice. Feeling isn't failure. And compassion is a choice. [Final Chorus - full female voices, triumphant but raw] We're done saying sorry! For the scars beneath our skin! Done making ourselves smaller just to make somebody grin! We're done saying sorry for the lives that we have lived! For the love that we still carry! For the grief we haven't finished! Let us laugh! Let us cry! Let us question! Let us try! Let us fall and rise again without explaining why! We're done apologizing for being who we are! You don't get to call us broken just because we show our scars! [Outro - groove cuts, single piano] [Spoken] I'm sorry... [Long pause] That you thought I needed your permission. [Quiet laugh] [Whisper] I'm not sorry. [Final bass note]
