DANCED THROUGH THE NOISE

Huuh, haah
Huuh

I walked the halls pretending everything was fine
Laughing at the jokes so they wouldn't cross the line
Sat alone at lunch, staring holes into my tray
Thinking maybe if I disappear they'll stop calling me strange

Kept it quiet, bit my tongue
I was small, I was young
Every whisper felt like fire
Every shove rewired my wires

So I danced through the noise, even when it hurt
Every name they threw at me sank into my shirt
I never said a word, swallowed every bruise
But now that I'm grown, I'm done letting them choose

They said it's just a joke, but jokes don't leave you shaking
I'd smile with my lips, but my hands were always aching
Tried to be invisible, tried to make it through
But silence is a prison when no one hears you

Kept it quiet, bit my tongue
I was small, I was young
Every whisper felt like fire
Every shove rewired my wires

So I danced through the noise, even when it hurt
Every name they threw at me sank into my shirt
I never said a word, swallowed every bruise
But now that I'm grown, I'm done letting them choose

Maybe I was broken, maybe I was scared
Maybe I was just a kid who wanted someone who cared
But every tear I swallowed turned into a melody
And now the halls that crushed me
Can't even get
To
Me

Yeah, I'm older now, and the past don't talk
But the ghosts of every joke still follow when I walk
You said: Lighten up, but I carried all the weight, hid it in my chest till it twisted into hate
I was quiet 'cause my voice got drowned
Every shove, every laugh kept pushing me down
You moved on like it never meant a thing, but I'm still stitching up the scars you gave when I was ten
Can't rewrite the days and can't undo the pain but I turned every punch into lines in my brain
And now I spit 'em out loud, no shame, no fear
I'm the storm you built and I'm finally here, I survived all the words you threw at my spine and I rise, every time, turning damage into rhymes
You can laugh at the kid I used to be, but you don't get to laugh at the person I became
That's me

School weirdo
Strange kiddo
Ooh