Stay Inside My Own Embrace

[Verse 1]
I count each look like it might make me whole
I learn your favorite words and wear them well
I turn a passing kindness into proof
Then panic when the warmth begins to melt

[Pre-Chorus]
Tell me I matter, tell me again
I keep collecting yeses like a medicine

[Chorus]
Love me, love me, make the silence stop
I keep reaching for a hand that won’t stay locked
Say I’m wanted, say I’m worth the ache
I bend myself in half for one more taste

[Verse 2]
I tell the joke before the quiet lands
I shape my answer to the face you make
If you look away, I start rehearsing
All the ways I could be easier to take

[Bridge]
But your eyes can’t certify my name
Your arms can’t heal what I won’t let me claim
I’m more than every yes I chase
More than the hunger I mistake for fate

[Final Chorus]
Love me, love me—I can hear the plea
But I am not a vote for who I get to be
Say I’m wanted; I’ll still choose my place
I’m learning how to stay inside my own embrace