Mouthful of Matches

[Intro]
This ain’t a lullaby
It’s a mouthful of matches
And I keep striking sentences
Just to see who flinches

[Verse 1]
I was raised on
“use your inside voice”
Like truth was furniture
You could scratch if you spoke too loud

Stayed small
Folded myself into polite paragraphs
Soft edges
Round vowels
Sent every anger to voicemail

But silence is a sneaky landlord
Raises the rent on your ribs
Until every unspoken thing
Costs you another breath

So I started stealing syllables back
One side-eye at a time
One “actually
That’s not okay”
Mumbled into the sink

[Chorus]
Now my tongue got calluses
From climbing out of my own throat
Every word a busted knuckle
Every pause a power cut

I don’t do quiet compliance
I do shaky
Sweaty honesty
Voice cracking
Hands trembling
Still speaking

Because this mouth
This trembling
Traitor mouth
Is the only megaphone
My heartbeat’s ever gonna get

[Verse 2]
People say
“you’re too much”
Like I’m a volume knob
They’re entitled to twist

But they never saw
The days I swallowed comebacks
Like broken glass
Smiled blood
And called it compromise

They never counted
How many times my reflection
Asked me
“why do you keep disappearing
Just to keep their comfort visible?”

Today
I am done being a dimmer switch
For somebody else’s fragile peace

[Chorus]
Now my tongue got calluses
From climbing out of my own throat
Every word a busted knuckle
Every pause a power cut

I don’t do quiet compliance
I do shaky
Sweaty honesty
Voice cracking
Hands trembling
Still speaking

Because this mouth
This trembling
Traitor mouth
Is the only megaphone
My heartbeat’s ever gonna get

[Bridge]
So if my truth
Hits you like a slammed door
Ask yourself
Who built the hallway like a trap

I am not here
To decorate your denial
I am here
To set off every smoke alarm in it

I am here
Mouthful of matches
And I finally
Finally
Like the taste of flame