The human
underneath.

Working lyric text · Half the World

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Verse 1
I spent years inside the details,
Certain facts would lead me through.
If I found the cause behind it,
I could tell what it would do.

People never worked that cleanly.
They would say one thing and turn.
I was good at finding failures,
Not at knowing where they hurt.

Then somebody asked a question
And waited through my quiet reply.
For the first time, I wasn't measured
By what I knew or could provide.

It wasn't only being wanted.
It was finally being seen.
And once that happened, every system
Had a human underneath.

Pre-Chorus
I didn't wake up someone different.
Nothing changed for me overnight.
I just started seeing reasons
I'd been leaving out of sight.

Chorus
I was looking at the whole world
With half of it out of view.
I knew how everything was working,
Not what people were going through.

Now I know what love can open
And what staying can undo.
I don't feel any less for leaving.
I just know what love can't do.

Verse 2
I have never loved by inches.
When I'm in, I give it all.
I learn the reason behind every silence.
I brace each time they start to fall.

But understanding someone's damage
Doesn't mean that it will heal.
You can give them all your patience,
But the choice to change is theirs.

They were never only broken.
I was never only strong.
We could see the best in each other
And still know the fit was wrong.

Some connections change your vision
Even when they cannot last.
Someone may not fit your future
And still matter in your past.

Pre-Chorus
I know leaving causes damage.
I know staying has a cost.
Love can keep two people trying.
It can't give back what is lost.

Chorus
I was looking at the whole world
With half of it out of view.
I knew how everything was working,
Not what people were going through.

Now I know what love can open
And what staying can undo.
I don't feel any less for leaving.
I just know what love can't do.

Bridge
Now I see it in the workplace.
Clever people skip the ground.
Build a tower out of answers,
Never ask what holds it down.

We can send machines through heaven,
Bring the farthest signals near,
Still forget to hear the person
Who is standing right here.

Maybe I am not much smarter.
Maybe more has come in view.
I just found the missing context
Underneath what people do.

Final Chorus
I was looking at the whole world
With half of it out of view.
I knew how everything was working,
Not what people were going through.

Now I know what love can open
And what staying can undo.
I don't feel any less for leaving.
I just know what love can't do.

Final Refrain
I still carry what they showed me.
I just carry it as truth.
Someone can change the way you see
And still not be the life for you.

Outro
I don't feel any less for leaving.
That's the hardest thing that's true.
Someone can open half the world
And still not walk it all with you.

Working lyric text · Past the Warning

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Verse 1
I got used to being useful,
Kept the rest of me contained.
Gave each room what it demanded,
Never asked what I became.

I knew how to keep things moving,
How to make the pieces fit.
I could read the shape of problems,
Not the feeling under it.

Then someone saw behind the answers.
For a while, I came alive.
I didn't know how much was missing
Till it looked me in the eyes.

When you wait that long for recognition,
You don't question what it costs.
You hold tighter to the person
Who can find you when you're lost.

Pre-Chorus
I thought being seen meant being safe.
Now I know they're not the same.
Someone can awaken part of you
And still not know how to stay.

Chorus - one-beat breakpoint into a heavy downbeat
I held on past the warning,
Past the point where care was kind.
Kept the whole thing from collapsing
While it hollowed me inside.

I could understand the hurting.
I could trace where it began.
But love isn't proved by breaking
Just to show how much you can.

Verse 2
I learned every hidden reason,
Every wound behind a word.
And each reason made it harder
To admit how much it hurt.

I could see the good within them,
See the life they might become.
But the future I imagined
Couldn't change the present one.

I kept moving every boundary,
Giving one more chance away.
If tomorrow might be better,
I could justify today.

There was always one more problem,
One more promise, one more try.
I was slowly being emptied
While insisting I was fine.

Pre-Chorus
Leaving felt like causing damage.
Staying felt like losing ground.
Either choice could hurt somebody.
Only one would take me down.

Chorus - harder drums; groove continues
I held on past the warning,
Past the point where care was kind.
Kept the whole thing from collapsing
While it hollowed me inside.

I could understand the hurting.
I could trace where it began.
But love isn't proved by breaking
Just to show how much you can.

Bridge - filtered broken-beat pulse
Now I see it all around me:
More complexity, less ground.
We get fluent in solutions
While the cause is left unfound.

We reward the loudest certainty,
Dress confusion up as depth.
I spent years believing confidence
Belonged to someone else.

Being careful isn't weakness.
Being quiet isn't doubt.
I don't need to know each answer
To know when something won't work out.

I can hold both care and distance.
Neither makes the other lie.
Some things aren't meant for fixing.
Some goodbyes don't need a side.

Final Chorus - one beat of silence, then full-band impact
I won't hold on past the warning,
Past the point where care is kind.
I won't keep the whole thing standing
If it costs me what's inside.

I can understand the hurting.
I can trace where it began.
But love isn't proved by breaking
Just to show how much you can.

Final Refrain
If I leave with love still in me,
It doesn't mean the love was small.
It means I finally understood
I was never meant to carry all.

Outro
I can care.
I can go.
Both of them can still be true.
What another person opened
Is a part of me now too.

Working lyric text · Past the Function

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Verse 1
I learned the language of machines
Before I learned to read a room.
Every failure left a footprint.
Every wire told the truth.

I let the useful version answer,
Kept the rest behind a wall.
If I never named the feeling,
I could say I felt nothing at all.

Then somebody stayed long enough
To see the part I wouldn't show.
Said my name and meant the person,
Not the things I seemed to know.

All at once the world grew wider.
Every word had weight below.
I could see the human current
Underneath what people showed.

Pre-Chorus
Once the door was open,
All the silence found a voice.
I learned how it felt to need someone
Before I knew that love still leaves a choice.

Chorus
Past the function, past the role,
There's a person underneath.
I can love you, I can help you,
But I still belong to me.

We put our names into the heavens,
Lose the ground beneath our feet.
If I have to disappear to stay,
That's not where I'm meant to be.

Verse 2
Beauty came in different measures,
But the pattern stayed the same.
Being wanted wasn't safety.
Being needed wasn't change.

I could see a road to better,
Trace it clearly end to end.
But a map can't move another,
And a wound won't always mend.

So I carried every fracture,
Moved the lines to make it work.
Every crisis made me useful.
Every rescue made it worse.

I kept thinking if I knew why,
I could keep us both above,
Till I couldn't tell the difference
Between survival and love.

Pre-Chorus
I can understand the reasons.
I can see how wounds were made.
But knowing why we're hurting
Doesn't make it safe to stay.

Chorus
Past the function, past the role,
There's a person underneath.
I can love you, I can help you,
But I still belong to me.

We put our names into the heavens,
Lose the ground beneath our feet.
If I have to disappear to stay,
That's not where I'm meant to be.

Bridge
I see the pattern all around us,
In our homes and in our work.
We keep building better systems
Without asking whom they serve.

We can reach beyond the planet,
Still forget the ones at home.
When we only value function,
We leave everyone alone.

Maybe I confused being useful
With the feeling of being known.
Maybe building someone shelter
Left me standing in the cold.

I was scared if I stopped holding,
Everything would hit the floor.
But I can thank the ones who saw me
Without dying for them anymore.

Final Chorus
Past the function, past the role,
There's a person underneath.
I can love you, I can help you,
But I still belong to me.

We put our names into the heavens,
Lose the ground beneath our feet.
If I have to disappear to stay,
That's not where I'm meant to be.

Final Refrain
Past the function, past the role,
I found someone underneath.
I can love without becoming
Every burden that I see.

We can reach beyond the heavens
Without losing what we need.
And if staying means I disappear,
Then I'm learning how to leave.

Outro
Past the function.
Past the role.
I'm still here underneath.

I can care without surrender.

I still belong to me.