A Second Skin

[Verse 1 — hypnotic bass]
I stitched green feathers into scales
To make you wings when all else failed
I gave you flight, you wanted more
You found one feather on the floor

[Pre-Chorus — rising harmonies]
This skin has grown too tight to breathe
But little hearts are underneath

[Chorus — spiraling melody]
Oh, Kukulkan, teach me to shed
The life that lives inside my head
I want to leave this shape behind
And find the sky I never tried
But under every coil I've made
Are fragile things that need the shade
I cannot tear the world apart
Without destroying someone's heart
(Someone's heart, someone's heart)

[Verse 2 — shifting meter]
You ask for wind without the storm
I curl myself into your form

[Bridge — ethereal]
The feathers fall, the scales remain
I dream of flying without chains
Must growing mean the world will break?
How much of me can duty take?

[Outro — soft falsetto]
A second skin beneath the first
A second life that wants the earth