Borrowed Name

Lyrics

[Verse 1] You taught me how to thread a needle How to hold a match by the wooden end You said the house was built for weather But never said who built me in I found your handwriting in the margins Of every book I tried to hide Same crooked seven, same impatient pressure Same little storm behind the eyes [Pre-Chorus] You watched me touch the kitchen table And make the silver teaspoons turn You called it luck, you called it nothing While your hands began to burn [Chorus] Mother, why didn’t you tell me I was a copy wearing your face? A second heart from the same secret A borrowed body, a borrowed name You made me whole from something holy Then left the truth outside my door Mother, why didn’t you tell me What I was made for? [Verse 2] There’s a photograph behind the boiler Your younger eyes are mine exactly One palm raised above a broken window One red thread binding you to me I heard you crying through the plaster Not for the glass or for the rain You said, “She’ll never know the difference” Then whispered my name [Pre-Chorus] Now every room remembers footsteps That never crossed the floor I can lift the weight of winter But I can’t lift what you ignored [Chorus] Mother, why didn’t you tell me I was a copy wearing your face? A second heart from the same secret A borrowed body, a borrowed name You made me whole from something holy Then left the truth outside my door Mother, why didn’t you tell me What I was made for? [Bridge] If I’m the shape of your undoing If I’m the proof you couldn’t save Then let me choose what happens next Don’t seal me in the life you gave I won’t be your hidden answer I won’t be your perfect alibi I’ll take the power from your silence And give it back a different light [Final Chorus] Mother, now I know you made me A living mirror, breathing flame But I’m not only what you started I can turn the copy into change You made me whole from something holy And fear became the lock on every door Mother, now I know you made me But I am more [Outro] Same crooked seven, same restless hands Different ending, different plans I carry you beneath my skin But I decide what I become within