**Intro** *(Solo violin, low and raspy at first, trembling like a weary man’s first honest breath – building into bright, aching runs that cut through the dark like dawn on broken roads)* **Verse 1** I was forged in the wreckage, fists clenched against the wind Every promise I broke left another scar on my skin Carried the weight of my failures like chains ‘round my soul Screamed at the silence till my voice turned to coal Blood on my knuckles from fighting ghosts in the night Love cut me open, left me bleeding out in plain sight Agony taught me the taste of a man when he breaks Joy slipped in sideways, like sunlight on a tear-stained face **Pre-Chorus** I ran like hell, I fell so hard Held on to nothing till it tore me apart **Chorus** And I’m breathless… Gasping Your name with this ruined voice of mine Breathless… Drowning in mercy I don’t deserve, but I find The light after ruin, the grace that still claims me When this hard man is shattered, You breathe fire back in me I’m breathless… God damn, I’m breathless… *(Violin explodes – bright, jaw-dropping, raw runs soaring high like a man’s last desperate cry turned into triumph, weeping bows and fierce vibrato)* **Verse 2** I buried my dreams in the dirt where I fell to my knees Clung to the bottle, the fight, anything but the peace Surrender hit harder than any punch I ever threw Letting go felt like dying, but dying remade me new I’ve known the sting of betrayal from the ones I called brothers Carried the shame like a stone in my chest for too long Resilience came bleeding through the cracks of my pride Faith rose up quiet when I had nowhere left to hide **Chorus** And I’m breathless… Lifted from ashes this stubborn heart survived Breathless… Mercy’s a river I’m finally done fighting Every scar on these hands tells the story of grace Every tear that I hid carved a path to this place I’m breathless… Lord, I’m breathless… **Bridge** (raspy, half-spoken, vulnerable over sparse, trembling violin) I was the storm… You were the calm I couldn’t outrun I was the soldier… You were the war already won I was the end of my rope… You were the beginning again Take this broken man, make him holy Let him sing… *(Violin solo – the most beautiful, heart-stopping passage: raw and luminous, climbing with desperate power, then falling soft like surrender, rising once more in unbreakable, shining resilience)* **Final Chorus** (full, raspy power, voice cracking with emotion) Now I’m breathless… Alive in the beauty that almost killed this man Breathless… Standing tall on the ground where I once crawled in the sand Every heartache was forging, every agony broke me wide So Your joy could come crashing like rivers inside I’m breathless… Filled with the fight, the fall, and the rise Breathless… In the arms of forever, this man is alive **Outro** *(Violin alone – tender, glowing, raspy warmth fading like a hard man finally at peace)* Breathless… I’m breathless… Still breathless…
