Triumphs I Never Owned

[Verse 1]
I wore my past like a medal
Cheap tin shining in the sun
Told the same three stories
Till the stories came undone
I was loud about my glories
Didn’t know they’d turned to rust
I was dancing on a pedestal
Built on dust

[Chorus]
All of my courage was borrowed
All of my bragging was tired
My triumphs
They were over
But I kept them dressed in fire
All of the things I never owned
I swore were carved in stone
While the real me
Shook in the dark alone

[Verse 2]
Kept the worst parts in the basement
Boxed and buried under stairs
Names and nights and near-misses
I pretended weren’t there
Every almost
Every fracture
Every promise that I bent
Sat there ticking like a secret
I refused to represent

[Chorus]
All of my courage was borrowed
All of my bragging was tired
My triumphs
They were over
But I kept them dressed in fire
All of the things I never owned
I swore were carved in stone
While the real me
Shook in the dark alone

[Bridge]
I called it strength
When I turned my head
Looked away from the mess
Right under my bed
Little bit coward
Little bit wild
I was hiding like a criminal
And posing like a child

[Chorus]
All of my courage was borrowed
All of my bragging was tired
My triumphs
They were over
But I kept them dressed in fire
All of the cracks I tried to hide
Are the map back to my home
Now the real me
Steps from the dark alone