[Intro] [clean delayed guitar] [soft tom pulse] [warm bass enters slowly] I let the dark get close enough to leave its shape behind. Now every breath feels borrowed, every shadow has a spine. [Verse 1] [restrained groove, clean guitar over low bass] I walked out under parking-lot light, hands cold, jaw tight, carrying pictures I did not want burning through my mind. The night kept moving like nothing changed. The signs still glowed. The road still had its painted lines. The air still filled my lungs. Some stories leave their fingerprints where sleep is supposed to be. Some doors should never open, but they do, and then you see. [Pre-Chorus 1] [guitars begin to swell] So I name what shook me. I let it pass through. I am not the fear I felt. I am the one it moved through. [Chorus] [huge melodic release] I am still my own, still blood, still bone, still a voice that knows my name. Let the darkness spend itself, let the last bad image fade. I am still my own, still here, still whole, still reaching for the dawn. What came crawling through my head does not get to carry on. [Verse 2] [heavier groove, more rhythmic vocal] There’s birdsong in the morning. it's a tale as old as fire. a lone voice calls out somewhere, at the moon above the pines. There are ordinary mercies that the mind forgets to keep: water from the kitchen tap, clean sheets, unbroken sleep. The world can still be ugly. it can't always be kind. But I won't let one nightmare take the color from my eyes. [Pre-Chorus 2] [snare sharper, bass climbs] So I come back slowly. One breath at a time. My body knows the doorway home. My heart remembers my name. [Chorus] [full band, wider vocal] I am still my own, still blood, still bone, still a voice that knows my name. Let the darkness spend itself, let the last bad image fade. I am still my own, still here, still whole, still reaching for the dawn. What came crawling through my head does not get to carry on. [Bridge] [drop to piano, clean guitar, low drone] Not every wound is mine to keep. Not every vision earns a throne. Some things pass across the mind and leave when they are known. I can turn the lights back on. I can step outside. I can let the cold air touch my face and feel the world alive. [Instrumental Lift] [melodic guitar lead] [toms build gradually] [bass forward, warm and steady] [feedback swell into final chorus] [Final Chorus] [largest arrangement, layered harmonies] I am still my own, still blood, still bone, still a voice that knows my name. Let the darkness spend itself, let the last bad image fade. I am still my own, still here, still whole, still reaching for the dawn. What came crawling through my head does not get to carry on. I am still my own. I am still my own. The night can break its teeth on me— I am still my own. [Outro] [clean guitar returns] [soft tom pulse fades] Morning doesn’t ask permission. It arrives on time. And I'll be with it.
