[Intro – piano, faint choir] Shhh… Don’t wake it. [Verse 1] The world is holding its breath again Snow-soft streets, no engines, no wind Even my heartbeat sounds too loud Like a crime in an empty town I swallow words like broken glass Afraid the air will learn my past Afraid the quiet will lean in close And take the only thing I own [Pre-Chorus] Because the silence doesn’t feel like peace It feels like teeth behind my teeth [Chorus] This deafening silence Wants to drink my voice If I speak, it will listen If I listen, I have no choice So I mouth prayers without sound Hold my breath until I drown In the space between the thought and the noise This deafening silence Wants to steal my voice [Verse 2] I see it ripple in the corner of my eye A glass reflection that won’t align A thin green edge along the dark Like phosphor tracing out a scar And sometimes—faint as a dying song— A low, wrong hum that lingers on Not music, not the wind, not me Just something tuning in quietly [Pre-Chorus] A channel with no station name A face that never stays the same I don’t look straight, I don’t look long I don’t give it anything to hold onto [Chorus] This deafening silence Wants to drink my voice If I speak, it will listen If I listen, I have no choice So I hide behind my tongue Like a ghost that won’t become One more echo for it to destroy This deafening silence Wants to steal my voice [Bridge – heavy strings, guitars rise] I used to scream and feel alive Now I whisper just to survive Because the quiet learns the shape of you It memorizes what you do And every time I dare to breathe It leans in closer underneath Like it’s waiting for my name Like it’s starving for a claim (choir swells) A flicker… a shimmer… a stare through the snow A girl in the static that I shouldn’t know Two knocks in the dark and my nerves lock tight One knock and the room feels… wrong tonight [Breakdown – half-time, intimate] So I keep my words behind my teeth I keep my fear where no one sees If I give the silence sound Will it take me down? [Final Chorus – biggest] This deafening silence Is a mouth without a face If I speak, it will keep me If I don’t, I still feel it in this place And I’m tired of being small Tired of living in the pause So I sing like a wound turned to noise Let it try—let it listen It won’t take my voice [Outro – piano only] Shhh… I spoke. And I’m still here. (…for now.)
