[Intro] Before the story found a sentence Before the cortex named the stakes A mammal asked the oldest question Are you near and am I safe [Verse 1] Proximity protection Recognition soothing touch Co-regulation tells a nervous system You don’t have to hold this much CARE keeps warmth within the circle SEEKING lifts the eyes to find PANIC & GRIEF rings separation When connection falls behind Eyes turn first and head comes after Superior colliculus takes aim Where-Self locates me in the moment Orienting comes before the name [Chorus] Need then orient Orient then seek Need goes unanswered And the alarm begins to speak Shock before emotion Pain before the story Defense becomes the body’s Unappointed ministry The symptom isn’t failure It is survival working still [Verse 2] What if the one required for safety Is absent frightened cold or wrong What if the harbor is the weather Making every storm so strong Locus coe ruleus sounds blue lightning Noradrenaline clears the floor The body enters protection Before the mind can say what for P A G coordinates the options Pain defense and attachment cry Insula reads the inner weather The cingulate tracks the social why [Circuitry Bridge] Superior colliculus Find the signal Turn the eyes and head Locus coe ruleus Sound the alarm Mobilize what might be needed Peri aque ductal gray Defense pain attachment distress Insula reads the body A C C tracks conflict Autonomic systems mobilize Or shut the action down H P A sends the stress memo Muscles save the movement That could not safely happen [Verse 3 — Six Defenses] Fight says I will stop this Give me boundaries give me force Flight says find the doorway Keep me moving off the course Freeze says I cannot move yet But the danger is still here High arousal under inhibition Silent thunder holding fear Attach says please come find me I still need you hear my cry Threat can make the bond grow louder When escape would mean goodbye Please appease says let me read you I can keep your weather mild Useful quiet calm and pleasing A diplomat disguised as a child Submit collapse says nothing worked here Spend no movement make me small Numb the body dim the signal Disappear behind the wall [Chorus] Fight flight freeze Attach appease Submit when no action Seems to bring relief Not defects of character Not choices made for drama They are nervous-system answers Written underneath the grammar [Verse 4 — Control and Loyalty] Fight may shift the locus of control Toward a self-appointed guard I must stop this I must control this Depending feels too hard Hypercontrol perfection Rage and self-reliance bloom Control becomes the bodyguard When protection missed the room Please appease shifts loyalty outward Toward the person who might leave Your calm matters more than my perception Your story more than I believe I monitor and take the blame Make mistreatment disappear Protect your name against my knowing Call compliance love and fear No control nucleus No loyalty gland inside They describe where power and allegiance Learned they had to hide [Verse 5 — Body and Dissociation] Jaw and neck Shoulders and rib cage Diaphragm abdomen and spine Bracing and armoring hold the action That was dangerous at the time The fist that could not push away The legs that could not flee The arms that reached without an answer The cry that could not safely be Somatisation makes the body Where unfinished pain may live Air hunger dizziness gut distress Fatigue and signals growing big High arousal fragments sensation Panic flashes without a map Low arousal numbs the body Speech and movement may collapse Different states may hold the pieces That could not coexist before Dissociation kept life moving By placing guards at different doors [Final Chorus- Reorienting] Past and present find their places Shock releases what was held Then no longer shapes this moment I am here within myself Fight becomes a boundary Flight becomes a choice Freeze becomes aware stillness Attachment finds a mutual voice Appeasement becomes compassion Without abandoning the self Submission becomes needed rest Not disappearance from the world The symptom isn’t failure It is the sequence asking still Don't destroy the old defenses Restore the freedom to choose at will
