Monster In My Mind

V1

I was young and hungry for a thrill that cut too deep

Played with fire like rules were only made for sheep

Every line I crossed became a ghost I couldn’t keep

Till the monster in my chest began to prowl instead of sleep

V2

I laughed it off, claimed everybody slips sometime

Blamed the world and poured a drink to fog my mind

Every face I hurt became a mirror I declined

Till I saw his outline in the corners of my mind

Pre1

If you saw the wreckage that I hide behind my eyes

Would you walk beside me or just leave me where it lies

Chorus

I met the monster living in the corners of my mind

He tore a hole inside me I’ve struggled to unwind

I fight the monster rising from the ruins in my mind

Now I work to keep him caged so he can’t poison what I find

[ACT2]

V3

There are names I never speak because they shake me like a chain

Memories that feel like rusted hooks beneath my skin of shame

I can taste the old addiction when they whisper out my name

Like the monster licking lips and asking me to play the game

V4

Crowds feel like a movie that I watch but never touch

I nod in all the right places and still it feels too much

Every joke I throw is armor so they never see the crush

Of the guilt that fills the silence when the room goes soft and hushed

V5

Some nights I sit and bargain with a ceiling cracked and stained

Tell myself I will be better if the past can be contained

But the reel keeps rewinding to the moment I derailed

When the monster took the wheel and every brake I had just failed

Pre2

Can a heart that crossed the line still find its way back home

Or am I just one slip away from turning back to stone

Chorus

I met the monster living in the corners of my mind

He tore a hole inside me I’ve struggled to unwind

I fight the monster rising from the ruins in my mind

Now I work to keep him caged so he can’t poison what I find

[ACT3]

V6

My therapist keeps asking where the first crack hit the glass

I shrug and say it started when I made my pain a mask

When I learned that hurting others felt like power I could grasp

Till the monster shook my hand and said we shared the same old task

V7

I built walls of rigid silence, heavy jokes and half-truth lies

Locked the doors on every feeling that could drown me when it cried

But the thicker that I made them, the more hollow grew inside

Like a kingdom with a prison where the king forgot his side

V8

So I drew a line in chalk and said I would not cross again

Made a truce with all the triggers that once dragged me back to then

Some days I am a guardian, some days only pretend

While the monster taps the bricks and whispers we could still be friends

Pre3

If I show the cages that I built around my soul

Will you see a broken man or someone fighting to be whole

Chorus

I met the monster living in the corners of my mind

He tore a hole inside me I’ve struggled to unwind

I fight the monster rising from the ruins in my mind

Now I work to keep him caged so he can’t poison what I find

[ACT4]

V9

Sometimes in the market under unforgiving lights

I catch my reflection sideways and it jerks me back to nights

When I almost let that creature turn a bad choice into blight

And I feel my knuckles tighten like I’m bracing for a fight

V10

Then a kid walks by me with a comic in his hands

And I feel a human future that is bigger than my plans

So I breathe and loosen shoulders, let the anger fall to sand

Tell the monster he is staying where the concrete borders stand

Pre4

If I keep on choosing mercy when my anger wants control

Can I be more than the sum of every story I have told

Chorus

I met the monster living in the corners of my mind

He tore a hole inside me I’ve struggled to unwind

I fight the monster rising from the ruins in my mind

Now I work to keep him caged so he can’t poison what I find

[ACT5]

V11

I know I cannot rewrite the nights that dragged me off the track

But I can stand between the world and what might pull me back

I can hold my better choices like a shield instead of mask

And admit that being haunted is a strangely human task

V12

So if you choose to love me know you are not loving clean

You are holding hands with someone who has walked through what he’s seen

You are dancing with a stranger who has stared behind the scenes

At the monster in the basement and still walked back to the street

Pre5

Can you stand beside a man who keeps a beast behind a door

Can you trust the one who knows it and keeps building walls once more

Chorus

I met the monster living in the corners of my mind

He tore a hole inside me I’ve struggled to unwind

I fight the monster rising from the ruins in my mind

Now I work to keep him caged so he can’t poison what I find

V13

One day when I am older and my hands begin to shake

I will walk beside the river of the choices I have made

If the monster stirs inside me I will feel the old quake

Then remember every moment that I chose not to break

Bridge

I am not the things I did when I was hollow, weak and blind

I am not the sum of every shadow whisper in my mind

I am every quiet morning when I woke and chose the climb

I am learning how to live while leaving him locked back behind

Chorus

I met the monster living in the corners of my mind

He tore a hole inside me I’ve struggled to unwind

I fight the monster rising from the ruins in my mind

Now I work to keep him caged so he can’t poison what I find

Outro

The moment grows still, like it’s giving me space

I feel every second slow down and ease into place

I take one last bow to the past that kept me caged

Then walk off into the night, still human, still afraid