From the recording The Man in the Mask
Lyrics
Intro
I don’t accept your pain anymore
You don’t get to lock my voice behind doors
I stood in the fire
I stood in the rain
And I’m not your child of punishment again
My songs are the markers on the road I’ve crossed
Gateposts in the ground for the battles I’ve lost
I go back and hear what I told myself then
The voice from my past
Is my voice again
Verse 1
Beaten with switches
Belts
Whatever they could find
Accused of things
They were hiding behind
The Book of Proverbs says
Spare the rod
Spoil the child
You never could have found
Something more unruly or wild
Pre-Chorus
Accused of things I never did
A child bracing for the next
Lash of the belt
Oh God I know
Just bear down
As I counted each welt
Chorus
But I’m not that
Child anymore
No one stands
Over me with a belt
This is how I felt
I don’t have a dying problem
I have a living problem
No one owns my voice
Verse 2
I don’t accept your pain
It was never mine to carry
No more do I live your distain
I stood in my fury
I don’t accept your pain
Isn’t mine anymore
Release that binding chain
No more do I carry your shame
Refrain
Gatekeepers at the door
Of my soul
Trying to lock away
My sound
Songwriters building
The world they sing
While the doors keep shutting them down
Bridge
They say the machine
Helped make the voice
Like that erases the song
But the song was mine
The lyrics my choice
And it’s been mine all along
The original voice
Before the sound
And it’s been mine all along
Pre Chorus
I’m not beaten down anymore
No one gets to silence me
Not this time
Chorus
I don’t accept your pain
It was never mine to carry
No more do I live your distain
I stood in my fury
I don’t accept your pain
Isn’t mine anymore
Release that binding chain
No more do I carry your shame
Verse 3
I know I’m not
The only one
Hands reaching
Out in the dark
We don’t have to take
The punishment
Just because we’re different
I don’t accept your ark
Or your pain anymore
It was never
Mine to carry
Bridge
Before I stood
In the fire
I stood in the rain
But I won’t live inside
Your chains a gain
Verse 4
I was beaten with switches
Belts whatever they could find
Accused of things I never did
Punishment every time
A child bracing for the blow
Learning how to bend
Just bear down
Let it happen
Wait for it to end
Outro
My songs are the markers
On the road I’ve crossed
Gateposts in the ground
For the battles I’ve lost
I go back and hear
What I told myself then
The voice from my past
Is my voice again