River Under My Skin Verse 1 They cut my shirt along the seam Like opening a letter no one meant to send. The room smelled clean in a way that made me sick. Bleach, plastic, rain against the vent. Even the silence had been disinfected. A woman with a tired kind of voice Asked me if I knew what day it was. I said, “I think it’s still tonight.” She wrote something down and called for blood. ⸻ Pre-Chorus There was a blue band round my wrist. Turns out survival doesn’t ask if they pronounce you right. I watched the saline find my vein And tried to hear what my body thinks. ⸻ Chorus There’s a river under my skin, And it’s running back to me. I keep waking up where I left myself Under hospital sheets. There’s a river under my skin, And it’s pulling me ashore. I don’t need forever, darling— Just one more morning. ⸻ Verse 2 The monitor made a small green mountain Every time my heart remembered its job. I hated how easily it forgave me. My mother’s coat was on the chair Like she might come back if I behaved. I counted cracks in the ceiling tiles And every one looked like a wave. ⸻ Pre-Chorus The doctor said, “You’re lucky,” Like luck was something I could keep. Like it couldn’t leak away with the next blood draw. ⸻ Chorus There’s a river under my skin, And it’s running back to me. I keep waking up where I left myself Under hospital sheets. There’s a river under my skin, And it’s pulling me ashore. I don’t need forever, darling— Just one more morning. ⸻ Bridge I used to think the end would be A door, a train, a clean white sound. But it was only this: A paper cup. A nurse who knew my name. A pulse returning without asking me. Every cell voted against my silence. And the worst part was not dying. The worst part was the morning: Every ruined thing still waiting For me to come back and call it mine. ⸻ Final Chorus There’s a river under my skin, And it’s running back to me. I keep waking up where I left myself Under hospital sheets. There’s a river under my skin, And it’s pulling me ashore. I don’t need forever, darling— Just one more morning. ⸻ Outro So let it hurt. Let it hurt. Let it hurt enough to know The blood kept moving Long after I let go.
