[Verse 1]
Fourteen
White walls
Cold light
Doctor’s eyes won’t meet your own
Cartoon socks on your small feet
Shaking hands on a plastic phone
You learned new words like they were storms
Watched your mother try to pray
You drew suns on paper gowns
Swore you’d outrun every grey
[Chorus]
I’m not sorry for you
I’m sorry for the days they stole
For every birthday spent in bedsheets
Every plan they turned to smoke
You’re not some tragic story
You’re flesh and fire and truth
I’m not sorry for you
I’m raging at the hurt they put you through
[Verse 2]
Nineteen
Campus
First fall
Laughed so loud you scared the crows
Then the spinning
Then the sirens
Same old questions
Different clothes
You cut scars into your schedule
Pills in place of Friday nights
Still you danced with crooked balance
Borrowed joy
Returned it bright
[Chorus]
I’m not sorry for you
I’m sorry for the years they bled
For every friend who slowly faded
Couldn’t face the tubes and tests
You’re not their quiet pity
You’re thunder breaking through
I’m not sorry for you
I’m furious that the world did this to you
[Bridge]
Thirty hit you like a hammer (oh)
Half your body wouldn’t move
You blinked twice
Spelled out “I’m tired”
Then you grinned and whispered “you?”
You have dragged your broken body
Through a maze that had no map
Still you hold our hands in yours
Ask us how we’re holding up
[Chorus]
I’m not sorry for you
I’m sorry for the weight you bear
For every laugh that comes out shaking
Every “fine” that hides despair
You’re not some fading picture
You’re wild
Bright
Raw
And bruised
I’m not sorry for you
I’m honored just to stand here next to you
[Outro]
So when they tilt their heads and murmur
“I’m so sorry
” like a curse
We will lift your name up louder
Over all their softened words
You were never made for hiding
You’re the hardest kind of proof
I’m not sorry for you
I’m just so damn proud of you