I Rise Above the Smoke

Candles in a window,

eyes behind the glass They drew

a smaller version of the woman

that I was

Whispers in the hallway saying who

I’m meant to be I wore

their little script like it was

written on my skin But there’s

a furnace in my chest they

never saw

A quiet fire that’s been waiting

for a spark I stopped rehearsing

all the words they wanted me

to say Tonight I’m burning down

the map they drew for me

Strike the match,

I’m not afraid to fall Watch

me rise through smoke and watch

me take it all

I rise, I rise above the

smoke and the flame Every word

they threw at me just fed

my name I rise,

I rise,

I am the fire they fear

Burning every expectation into dust and

ash They wrote my ending,

I rewrote it in the dark

Every scar they gave me turned

to gold in the spark I

rise, I rise,

divine and unafraid I am the

storm they couldn’t tame,

the light they couldn’t shade

Morning after midnight,

walk through the remains Of every

borrowed life I used to live

in chains The ashes on my

shoulders feel like diamonds now I

don’t apologize for how loud the

fire was They said a woman’s

fire’s just a face to fade

They said I’d come back humble,

tame, dead name But every cage

they built me only fed the

blaze I’m the smoke they can’t

hold, the light that won’t decay

No more kneeling,

no more asking for permission Watch

me burn the ceiling off and

claim my throne I rise,

I rise above the smoke and

the flame Every word they threw

at me just stirred my name

I rise,

I rise,

I am the fire they fear

Burning every expectation into dust and

ash They wrote my ending,

I rewrote it in the dark

Every scar they gave me turned

to gold in the spark I

rise, I rise,

divine and unafraid I am the

storm they couldn’t tame,

the light they couldn’t shade To

every daughter watching from the shadows

of their doubt This fire was

never mine alone,

it passed through me somehow From

mother to the daughter,

from the daughter to the flame

We were born to rise,

we were never born to break

I rise, I rise above

the smoke and the flame Every

word they threw at me just

fed my name I rise,

I rise,

I am the fire they fear

Burning every expectation into dust and

ash

They wrote my ending,

I rewrote it in the dark

Every scar they gave me turned

to gold in the spark I

rise, I rise,

divine and unafraid

I

am the storm they couldn’t tame,

the light they couldn’t shade I

rise, I rise

Higher than the smoke,

higher than the

flame