Skin Deep And Sinking
She moves like a rumor through a room of true believers
Each eye a convert, every pulse a weak receiver
He’s been down this road before — got the scars to prove the mileage
But the road looks brand new every time,
and that’s the real violence
Touch like a match strike, vanish before the smoke clears
Built a whole cathedral out of one night, prayed to it for years
It ain’t love and he knows it, it ain’t even close
But the closest thing to feeling is the thing that burns the most
Skin deep and sinking,
can’t tell need from want when you’re this far down
Skin deep and sinking,
mistook the heat for something solid, something sound
The fire’s real enough, but fire doesn’t hold you when it’s done
Skin deep and sinking, chasing what you can’t outrun
She’s got a name he’ll say wrong every single morning
Not from cruelty — from the fact he never really learned it
There’s a version of connection he keeps almost reaching
And a version of himself he hasn’t quite yet earned it
Every body is a country he visits but never lives in
Every passport full of stamps from places he fled before winter
And the loneliness is patient, waits outside the door
Knows he’ll need it like a blanket
when the wanting’s done once more
There was a girl once — real, not a record or a conquest
Not a highlight reel — she said I see you
and he flinched like she’d swung at him
Because being seen was so much more terrifying than being wanted
So he traded depth for frequency, traded known for new
Built a life from exits and disasters,
called it freedom, called it true
But freedom’s got a hollow sound when it echoes back alone
And the bed keeps getting emptier the more bodies fill it up
Skin deep and sinking,
can’t tell need from want when you’re this far down
Skin deep and sinking,
mistook the heat for something solid, something sound
The fire’s real — God,
the fire’s real — but it burns the house
and leaves you in the yard
Skin deep, just skin deep, never got past skin deep at all