MOVEMENT: Lighthouse

The silence said everything. I just didn't wanna hear it.

Lost in the fog, too proud to admit it. Learned how to laugh when I wanted to cry. Kept the mask on tight so nobody asked why.

You know I always wear a mask when I feel like this, Hide the pain, then come at you with all my wittiness. Quick with a quip, keep the grip when the pressure hits, Make a joke, play it cool, like I ain't affected by it.

I've been slick with the switch, turn the sickness to wit, Make a joke of the hurt, put a twist on the script. I got a talent for disguising what I'm dying to say, Smile for the crowd while my insides are fighting the waves.

I make light of the darkness, that's my favorite defense, Turn a weakness to wit, make a weakness make sense. Every night when the noise dies down, I hear it again... That little voice in the void asking, "Where have you been?"

I've been drifting with the current, calling drifting "free," When the truth is I've been scared of what the truth might be. I keep sailing through the storm like the storm ain't real, While the water gets higher and I bury how I feel.

I need a light. I need a sign. Something to show me I'm still alive.

Lighthouse, lighthouse, shine through the night, Guide me when I can't tell wrong from right. I've been hiding behind every laugh, every line, Trying to lose what I needed to find.

Lighthouse, lighthouse, stay on the shore, I've been running from myself, can't run anymore. When I lose my way and the darkness arrives, Be the reason I remember I'm still alive.

I've been dodging the depth, staying safe in the shallows, Made a friend of my fear, hold its hand through the hallows. Got a smile so convincing, you'd swear that I'm winning, But the grin is a curtain and the hurt's still sitting.

That's the trick with the wit, it's a wonderful shield, But a shield ain't a cure and a wound needs to heal. I can laugh through the ache, make a joke out of pain, But the rain doesn't vanish when you rename it a game.

I learned how to turn a bad day into comedy, Turn tragedy to strategy, pain into prophecy. If I can make you laugh, maybe nobody asks What's behind the punchline, what's beneath the mask?

That's a hell of a hiding place...funny, isn't it? Build a house out of humor, then get trapped within it. Now I'm standing at the shoreline, staring at the glow, I was looking for a lighthouse, I was learning where to go.

Lighthouse, lighthouse, shine through the night, Guide me when I can't tell wrong from right. I've been hiding behind every laugh, every line, Trying to lose what I needed to find.

Lighthouse, lighthouse, stay on the shore, I've been running from myself, can't run anymore. When I lose my way and the darkness arrives, Be the reason I remember I'm still alive.

Hope is a harbor when the water gets rough. Hope is that little light saying I've had enough. Guidance ain't a map with a road drawn in red. It's a light in the distance when you're lost in your head.

I don't need the lighthouse to come looking for me. I just need it to shine so I know where to be.

So remember the nights when you thought you were done, When the dark had you thinking you'd never see sun. That light never left, it was there through the weather, Steady through the storm, holding course through whatever.

I mistook being lost for being alone, But the beacon kept burning, kept calling me home. Now I don't need to fake being fearless to float, I can name what I'm feeling instead of choke it.

I can laugh without hiding, be clever and candid, Let the truth leave my lips without needing to mask it. The mask that protected me served its purpose well, But protection ain't freedom if you're trapped in the shell.

Lighthouse, lighthouse, shine through the night, Guide me when I can't tell wrong from right. I was hiding behind every laugh, every line, Now I'm finding the parts I was trying to hide.

Lighthouse, lighthouse, stay on the shore, I was running from myself, I'm not running anymore. When the darkness arrives, I'll remember the light. I don't need to disappear just to know I'm alright.

The light I was looking for was waiting in me.

Lost in the fog. Found by the light.

I wasn't gone. Just out of sight.

Lighthouse. Lighthouse.

I'm home.

~S.R.Chappell

Ai art with animation and Suno produced song with lyrics by S.R.Chappell