I'll shine bright

I breathe a little easier when I leave you behind,

The weight on my shoulders, the plague in my mind

It gets a little breezier the moment I find

Glimmers of clarity and from you I unbind

You keep me too busy with heartache and crimes

Too stressed to reflect

Too tense too unwind

Too afraid to connect

Too timid, too blind

My colours were once vibrant, my spirit divine

My laughs would echo with a joy that was mine

But baby I met you and what’s mine became yours

You’re a storm that raged in, after softly knocking on my door

I thought I could do this, but you always wanted more

I thought I’d get through this, but you had more in store

I thought it could happen to be loved and still be free

I didn’t imagine you’d have this much power over me

To lift me or crush me, to slow me or rush me

To beat me down and then touch me...

In that tender way

That way that left my life astray

The way that makes me forget what happened yesterday

When you held me so tightly, I thought I would die

When you drank from my kindness until the well ran dry

When you decided to destroy my trust and wouldn't say why

I've gone into hiding but I cannot run away

You keep me craving and my heart it obeys

When my spirit is naked in my moments alone

I see how much of me because of you is gone

But then you're suddenly all around me

And my layers they're back on

The ones I created to pretend I'm still strong

The ones I concocted to convince myself I wasn't wrong

To fall in love with someone who never loved me for who I am

But rather who loved me because you saw my flaws

My sense of insecurity, what I wrongly believed I was worth

An intrinsic vulnerability that I've been unable to unbirth

A sense of isolation as old as my first breath on earth

My weakness, my pain,

My scars, my wars,

Oh baby they were my painful siren call

You flocked towards me and didn't hesitate at all

To conquer, to change, to break me with words,

To take until I lost what it was that made me my own

The me I had painstakingly put together and that through tragedy I'd grown

The sense of hope I nurtured in the pitch black dark

The belief in a tomorrow that I hid in my heart

A craving for humanity when the demons left their mark

In my head, whispered in my ears,

When I lay in bed, wondering if the end is near

Oh how you shone so brilliantly when you first held my hand

Oh how you eased my fright before I began to understand

Your intentions for me, your determination for my essence to posses

To force me to submit, to break me down, forcing me to confess,

To use my past against me and to keep me a mess,

But today you're far and I can breathe my truth

Fearing the day I'll return once more to you

It's impossible to escape you, of that you made sure

You soiled my love, made our connection impure

I see it so clearly when there's oceans between us,

But when I look in your eyes, it'll take over – my weakness

So I'll live today and I'll dream tonight

Of a fearless tomorrow, of my individuality alight

I'll pray for help, for strength, for what's right

I'll pray for serenity, for grace, for might

And for that day to come, which in the absence of you,

I once again become glorious and I shine bright

Oh, baby, I'll shine bright, I'll shine bright.