[spoken word intro] I don’t rescue the wild, I listen until it speaks again. Broken breath, trembling bone, you remember who you are in my hands — and I remember who I am in yours. [Verse 1] I do what I do ’Cause I was once you Discarded and tired Feeling see-through Didn’t know different Just searched for love Prayed for a miracle From something above I learned real early How silence feels How hunger lives How neglect steals So when I see you shaking Or barely breathing through I don’t ask why I just know it’s true [Chorus] I was you Before I grew Before I learned What love could do I don’t rescue I remember I give you what I never knew [Verse 2] Bottle-fed kittens No mother near Tiny hearts Running on fear A dog in a cage Three years alone Never touched earth Never called home Goats on the edge Bones and skin A body still fighting To stay within A dog I was told “Just let him go” I said, “Let him feel love Before he knows” [Pre-Chorus] They ask me why I take them all in When I don’t have much When the odds look thin [Chorus] I was you Once upon pain Left to survive In the rain I don’t save I stay So no one dies Feeling thrown away [Bridge (soft / spoken)] I don’t do this because I’m strong I do this because I remember What it feels like To be unwanted [Verse 3] No funding No rescues No safety net Just a promise I haven’t broken yet I’ll make it work I always do Because love finds a way When it’s true They eat before me They rest in peace They learn the world Can be kind at least [Final Chorus] I was you Now I’m here So you never have to live In fear I don’t need saving I don’t need proof Loving you Is loving truth [Outro (mantra-like)] Safe now Loved now You belong People call it rescue. But they don’t see what happens when the lights are off. They don’t see how they teach me to stay. To soften. To keep my heart open. I give them safety, and they give me purpose. I give them love, and they remind me how to receive it. [speaking] I didn’t save them. We healed each other. T hey think I rescued them… but they’re the reason I’m still here.
