NOBODY OWNS MY
FIRE.

I gave too much of myself
to hands that only knew how to take.
But the flame was never theirs.
It was only waiting
for me to come back.

They gathered close when I was burning
Held their hands up to my light
Took the warmth and called it kindness
Left me colder in the night

I kept pouring from the center
Kept my hunger out of view
While they walked away with pieces
Of a life they never knew

But something moved beneath the ashes
Something breathed beneath the stone
And the fire I thought was empty
Started finding its way home

Nobody owns my fire
Nobody holds my flame
I can give love from the embers
But they don’t get to take my name

Nobody owns my fire
Nobody rules my light
I was burned down to the silence
But I’m burning still tonight

I have fed too many shadows
With the best parts of my soul
I have smiled through my own breaking
Just to keep another whole

There were voices dressed as mercy
There were hearts that came to feed
They called my giving something holy
Then they used it like a need

Now I see the line more clearly
Now I feel it in my chest
Love that leaves me disappearing
Was never love at its best

Nobody owns my fire
Nobody holds my flame
I can give love from the embers
But they don’t get to take my name

Nobody owns my fire
Nobody rules my light
I was burned down to the silence
But I’m burning still tonight

This flame has crossed the hard years
This flame has crawled through rain
This flame has seen the faces
Of the ones who smiled through pain

It is not for every table
It is not for every hand
It belongs inside the heartbeat
Of this tired, living man

Nobody owns it!
Nobody owns it!
After all I gave away
Nobody owns my fire!

Nobody owns my fire
Nobody holds my flame
I can give love from the embers
But they don’t get to take my name

Nobody owns my fire
Nobody rules my light
I was burned down to the silence
But I’m burning still tonight

Still warm
Still wild
Still mine
After all this time

Nobody owns my fire
Nobody owns my fire
Still burning
Still mine