You said, “Hold still, this won’t take long”
Said you’d fix what I got wrong
Pinned a smile across my face
Cut me open, called it grace
Careful hands, a practiced eye
Measured out what gets to die
Took the parts you couldn’t frame
Left a body, kept my name
You called it art, you called it truth
I felt the knife, I watched you choose
Now I’m your perfect little specimen
Stitched up tight, posed again
Glass eyes shining, but they don’t see
All that’s left is what you need
Paint me real, make me right
Keep me frozen in your light
Say I’m better this way: don’t lie
I’m just hollow dressed alive
Stripped me down to hide and bone
Scraped out everything I own
Stuffed me full of what you want
Silence packed into my lungs
Turn me slightly, fix my jaw
Hide the seams you never saw
Every thread a quiet scream
Every pose a broken dream
You step back, admire your work
Never see the way it hurts
Now I’m your perfect little specimen
Stitched up tight, posed again
Glass eyes shining, but they don’t see
All that’s left is what you need
Paint me real, make me right
Keep me frozen in your light
Say I’m better this way: don’t lie
I’m just hollow dressed alive
Do you hear me in the walls?
In the silence when night falls?
All the parts you threw away
Still remember yesterday
You couldn’t love what I had been
So you made me still and thin
But you never brought me back
You just learned to hide the lack
Look at me
your masterpiece
Look at me
empty
Now I’m your perfect little specimen
Stitched up tight, posed again
Glass eyes shining, but they don’t see
There’s no one left inside of me
Frame me up, call it life
Dress the wound, disguise the knife
Say I’m yours, say I’m complete
I’m just something you can keep
You call it love
I call it death
You kept the skin
and lost the rest.
