I learned your language like a borrowed tongue
Bent every word till it came out numb
Wore your eyes like a second face
Held it steady, kept the pace
Stitched a smile into my skin
Taught my hands where not to begin
Every gesture rehearsed, refined
Till I disappeared behind the lines
You said, “this is how you survive”
But I forgot what it means to feel alive
So I’m molting in the open air
Peeling back what you made me wear
Raw and shaking, unprepared
I don’t know what’s waiting there
Every layer coming loose
Every lie I called the truth
I’m not ready; I never am
But I need to know who I am
Second skin that never fit
Held me tight till I split
Every seam starts coming undone
Now I’m bleeding in the sun
You called it normal, called it right
Taught me how to dim my light
Told me “this is who you’ll be”
But it never felt like me
I wore it so long I can’t define
Where it ends and where I’m mine
So I’m molting in the open air
Peeling back what you made me wear
Raw and shaking, unprepared
I don’t know what’s waiting there
Every layer coming loose
Every lie I called the truth
I’m not ready; I never am
But I need to know who I am
What if there’s nothing underneath?
What if it’s worse than what you see?
What if I’m only all these seams
And the mask was all of me?
But what if there’s a voice I lost
Buried deep beneath the cost?
Something quiet, something true
Something no one else could use
Don’t look at me, I’m not done forming
Don’t speak for me, I’m still becoming
I’m molting in the open air
No more hiding what’s not there
Hurts like hell but I can’t repair
Something built on borrowed care
Every layer that I shed
Leaves me something closer to it
I’m not ready; I never am
But I’m closer to who I am
If I’m raw, then let me be
Unfinished, undefined, and free
I don’t know what I’ll become
But at least it will be mine.
