Echoes I Still Carry

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“Echoes I Still Carry”

There were rooms that stayed too quiet,

Even when I learned to speak,

Love felt like it had conditions,

And safety never came for free.

I learned to read the silence,

Like it was louder than a scream,

And I grew up chasing pieces

Of a life I never seen.

And I keep wondering why I feel too much,

Or not enough at all…

Like I was built from shattered trust,

Trying not to fall.

These are the echoes I still carry,

In the way I love, in the way I break,

Every “stay” feels temporary,

Every touch feels like it might escape.

I reach for arms that feel like healing,

Then pull away when they get close,

‘Cause the first place I called family

Taught me love comes and goes.

Now I’m older, still unraveling,

Why I flinch at being seen,

Why I build my walls so high

But still beg someone to reach me.

And I don’t know how to trust it,

When it starts to feel like home,

‘Cause I learned too early that comfort

Is the first thing that gets gone.

So I hold on tight then let it slip,

Like I’m scared of what I need,

And I wonder if I’m damaged,

Or just shaped by what I’ve seen.

These are the echoes I still carry,

In the way I love, in the way I break,

Every “stay” feels temporary,

Every touch feels like it might escape.

I reach for arms that feel like healing,

Then pull away when they get close,

‘Cause the first place I called family

Taught me love comes and goes.

But I’m tired of repeating stories

That were written long before my time,

I’m learning I can rewrite something,

Even if it starts with “I’m not fine.”

Maybe love isn’t a battlefield,

Maybe it doesn’t have to hurt…

Maybe I was never broken—

Just never taught what I deserved.

Final Chorus

These are the echoes I still carry,

But they don’t get to lead me anymore,

I can feel them without obeying,

I can choose what I’m living for.

And I still reach for something healing,

But I don’t run when it gets close…

I’m not just what I was given—

I’m what I choose to know.