You looked like mercy
from far away
You came in dressed in perfect light
with your clean hands and your careful tone
A little heaven in your mouth
a little white around the bones
You said the pain would quiet down
if I stood still and faced the glow
But every promise left a mark
in places only I would know
I learned how bright a lie can get
before it starts to show the wire
I learned some halos only shine
because they sit above a fire
And I let it in
like a hymn, like a cure
like a door that would hold
like a love that was pure
But the closer it came
the more clearly I saw
all that light in your hands
was just another law
The brightest lie
wore a halo in the smoke
The brightest lie
put its fingers at my throat
It called itself salvation
called itself the light
But every perfect answer
only pulled me from my life
The brightest lie
still burns the hardest white
Brightest lie
brightest lie
I kept your language in my chest
like broken glass behind the ribs
Every silver little truth
was sharpened by the way you lived
You said devotion meant restraint
You said surrender made me clean
But I have seen the holy mask
split wide at every hidden seam
I know the color of control
when it arrives dressed up as grace
I know how fear can wear a crown
and still call weakness faith
So I let it crack
let the white paint fall
let the beautiful fraud
lose the shape of it all
And the voice in my blood
that I buried to survive
rose up red through the gold
and came back alive
The brightest lie
wore a halo in the smoke
The brightest lie
put its fingers at my throat
It called itself salvation
called itself the light
But every perfect answer
only pulled me from my life
The brightest lie
still burns the hardest white
I don't need another heaven
that requires me to disappear
I don't need another kindness
built on discipline and fear
If your light demands my silence
keep your altar, keep your name
I was never made for worship
I was made for flame
Let it blind
Let it break
Let the false gold separate
If it shines
if it stings
I will call it what it is
The brightest lie
wore a halo in the smoke
The brightest lie
put its fingers at my throat
It called itself salvation
called itself the light
But every perfect answer
only pulled me from my life
The brightest lie
still burns the hardest white
Still burns
Still burns
the hardest white