Lyric

They gave me somewhere to sit

A table and a light

A name beside the setting

A place that looked polite

I kept my hands together

I kept my breathing low

I answered when they asked me

And learned how not to show

My back was in the picture

My pulse was somewhere else

I sat inside the moment

But never found myself

You can give me somewhere to sit

And still give me nowhere to be

You can count me in the room

And never make room for me

I was seated in the silence

Held by nothing I could name

A body in the right place

With no shelter in the frame

I learned the social distance

Between a chair and care

The way a room can keep you

Without receiving you there

At every proper table

I wore the quiet face

I sat where I was told to

And disappeared in place

A chair can hold a body

A room can hold a name

A hand can point you somewhere

And never let you stay

You can give me somewhere to sit

And still give me nowhere to be

You can count me in the room

And never make room for me

A seat is not a place

A name is not a home

I was present in the structure

But never truly known

I do not need the corner

I do not need the claim

I need a place that keeps me

When I forget my name

I need the air to hold me

Without making me small

I need to stay as myself

Or not be seated at all

A role is not a body

A door is not a welcome

A place card is not mercy

A table is not belonging

You can give me somewhere to sit

And still give me nowhere to be

You can count me in the room

And never make room for me

Seat is not a place

I know it in my bones

I stand before the silence

And leave the chair alone

The room remains behind me

Arranged and clean and still

I walk out of the seating

To learn my own will