[Verse 1] I took the names they gave me To the hollow of an oak, Laid them down like little funerals In the language of the smoke. The moon unstitched my shadow From the shape I’d learned to wear, And the earth beneath my bare feet Knew the woman buried there. [Pre-Chorus 1] I heard the roots beneath me Speak in tongues of salt and bone, Said, “The seed must split its body To become what it has known.” So I loosened every binding That had taught my blood to kneel, And the darkness held me gently While I learned how light could feel. [Chorus] Let the old names turn to ashes, Let the borrowed skin fall free, I am not the thing that’s dying, I’m the life beneath the leaves. Every ending is an altar, Every loss a sacred seam, I am beautifully unbecoming Everything I was taught to be. [Verse 2] I buried all my borrowed faces Where the foxglove bends at dusk, Fed the soil my false confessions Till the rain dissolved their rust. The mycelium took my secrets, Wove them through the sleeping ground, And the things I’d called my endings Rose as wildflowers without bounds. [Pre-Chorus 2] The moon poured silver through me Where the old enchantments broke, And I felt my buried knowing Rise like embers through the smoke. What I’d mistaken for a curse Was a language in my veins, And the witch beneath my silence Called each hidden star by name. [Chorus] Let the old names turn to ashes, Let the borrowed skin fall free, I am not the thing that’s dying, I’m the life beneath the leaves. Every ending is an altar, Every loss a sacred seam, I am beautifully unbecoming Everything I was taught to be. [Bridge] I have kissed the mouth of winter, Drunk the silence from its throat, Sewn my prayers in raven feathers, Set them sailing without boats. I have watched the stars bear witness As the old illusions burned, And the woman in the ashes Was the witch who had returned. [Final Chorus] Let the old names turn to ashes, Let the borrowed skin fall free, I am not the thing that’s dying, I’m the life beneath the leaves. Every ending is an altar, Every loss a sacred seam, I am beautifully unbecoming Everything I was taught to be.
