My Mercy Has Teeth Verse 1 I didn’t meet the devil in the streets. He was waiting in my reflection— wearing my face, speaking with a voice I’d spent my whole life obeying. I went where the good child finally dies, where halos rust and masks catch fire. No choir. No heaven. Just my heartbeat echoing through abandoned bones. Carl Jung in my back pocket, a lantern in a world without dawn. The door whispered, Enter. So I did. Names carved into the walls— not mine. The ones who taught that love could arrive with folded hands and leave with bloody teeth. Pre-Chorus Then the shadow stood, quiet as a gravestone. “You’ve mistaken suffering for virtue. You’ve worn silence like a crown. Now tell me— Who taught you that surviving meant disappearing?” Chorus I met my shadow— Face to face beneath my skin. It kissed my forehead, called my fear by its first name. I met my shadow— And the silence learned to scream. Stop mistaking mercy for another way to bleed. My mercy has teeth. My kindness keeps a knife. My mercy has teeth. I finally chose my life. Verse 2 Blood knows exactly where to hide the knife. Family is the only war where the enemy remembers your lullabies. They borrowed my voice until I forgot its sound. Called surrender “love.” Called fear “respect.” Called obedience “peace.” I studied storms like scripture. Read silence like weather. Built maps from broken patterns. But maps don’t stop bleeding. They only tell you where it began. In the corner sat the child still bargaining with ghosts. “If I become smaller… will somebody finally stay?” Pre-Chorus The shadow laughed— not cruelly. Like someone cutting ropes. “Stop begging empty wells for water. Stop decorating cages and calling them home. You were never born to be understood. You were born to be free.” Chorus I met my shadow— Face to face beneath my skin. It kissed my forehead, called my fear by its first name. I met my shadow— And the silence learned to scream. Stop mistaking mercy for another way to bleed. My mercy has teeth. My kindness keeps a knife. My mercy has teeth. I finally chose my life. Bridge They called instinct madness. They called boundaries ego. Every time I trusted myself, they handed me their guilt to wear. Listen— The shadow isn’t evil. It’s every wolf you buried alive so strangers would call you gentle. It’s every scream stitched shut to keep the peace. It’s the hand that pulled the child out of the fire. Saints don’t survive by kissing every blade. Sometimes salvation arrives wearing rage. Sometimes love draws a line. Sometimes forgiveness walks away. Build I don’t want revenge. I want my name back. I don’t want justice from people who buried truth. I want my soul back. Final Chorus I met my shadow— And the dark gave back my spine. Not hatred. Discernment. Not vengeance. Design. I met my shadow— And even the silence bowed. No more kneeling. No more proving. No more dying to be believed. My mercy has teeth. My kindness keeps a knife. My mercy has teeth. I finally chose my life. Outro If you’re looking for the version of me that apologized for existing, that stayed soft inside rooms that demanded armor— keep walking. He doesn’t live here anymore. You’ll find someone whole. Watching. Choosing. Breathing. And smiling with mercy— that has teeth.
