I'm scared

Lyrics

She’s seventeen in borrowed light, First year books, but sleepless nights, Ink on pages, thread on skin, Stitching dreams she’s never been in. Breath comes sharp like winter air, Hidden coughs she learns to bear, No one sees the weight she holds, In silent rooms and stories untold. She walks through halls like she’s not there, A ghost with neatly braided hair, They call her quiet, say she’s fine, But silence screams between the lines. She says, “I don’t need anyone near,” But it’s just armour made of fear, Every “hello” left her in pieces, Every hope that slowly ceases. Oh, she’s tired of trying, tired of bending, Tired of hearts that need defending, Seventeen, but twice as worn, Smiling less with every morn. Needles hum beneath her hands, After school, no one understands, Fabric scraps and weary eyes, Trading youth for compromise. Grandmother with aching feet, Shares the load, though incomplete, Little sisters fast asleep, While she’s promises to keep. Parents home before she’s through, They don’t ask, they never knew, She folds her world in quiet seams, And buries all her fragile dreams. She says, “I don’t want friends at all,” But that’s the echo of a fall, From every time she reached and missed, From every name that left her list. Oh, she’s tired of trying, tired of breaking, Tired of chances she keeps taking, Seventeen, but feels so old, Carrying what she never told. And lately she don’t laugh the same, Don’t speak unless they say her name, Eyes once bright now dimmed with doubt, A quiet war she fights throughout. She used to hope, she used to try, Now she just lets the moments die, Not by choice, but worn too thin, From all the fights she couldn’t win She says, “I’m better on my own,” But no one hears the undertone, A heart that begged to just belong, Now barely beats, but still holds on. Oh, she’s fading softly, unremarked, A flicker lost within the dark, Seventeen, unseen, unheard, A life reduced to whispered words And if you pass her, you won’t know, The storms she hides, the weight below, Just a girl who learned too soon… How to survive, but not to bloom.