The Echo Was Home

Cold streets
Neon blur
Noise outside
Inside a stir
Earbuds in but I still hear
The thing I tried to disappear

Crowded rooms
I fade away
Laugh on cue but never stay
Built my armor piece by piece
Called it strength
It wasn't peace

I ran so far from what I knew
From every silent
Honest truth
But distance doesn't mute the tone
It only makes it feel like home

Tear out my silence
Call my name
If I get lost
Don't look away
If I fall into my own control
Break the walls around my soul
If I can't find my way alone
Be the echo that leads me home

I said to the wind in desert skies
" If promise lives where doubt still lies
I don't need thunder
I don't need flame
Just call me back by my real name. "

No sky broke open, no grand display
Just quiet steps that chose to stay
Like a key that turns unseen
Like breath returning in between

Not a flash
Not a roar
Just presence standing at my door
The void began to lose its claim
And silence didn't feel the same

Tear out my silence
Let me hear
If I run
Run toward me here
The farther I ran from the echo inside
The more it followed
The less I could hide
It wasn't thunder
It wasn't a sign
It was a promise
Waiting in time

In the dark where fear had grown
I learned
The echo
Was home

In the dark where fear had grown
I learned
The echo
Was home