My Body Knows (In The Way)

I wrote this in my first long relationship, right at the point where I couldn’t make sense of why “I love you” didn’t land the same way for both of us.

For me it meant something you stand in. Something that stays. For him it felt present-tense: true in the moment, lighter, without the same promise attached.

This lyric is the hurt of that mismatch. Hearing the words like a habit. Feeling the space behind them. Trying to translate basic needs into a language that still doesn’t reach the other person - and realizing you can be in the same room and still not be met.

Looking back, I’d write it differently. But this version is honest. The first version was basically only the refrain - like a mantra - with strings answering the lines while everything got rougher and more distorted. Later I made it more vulnerable and folded in experiences from other relationships too (with myself and with others).

Lyrics

My Body Knows (In The Way)

[Verse 1]
You say it like a habit, like a line you memorized
Like it’s something you can throw me when you don’t want to try
I’m standing right in front of you, my whole chest open wide
And you look straight through me like I’m asking for too much
Like I’m asking for your blood

[Prechorus]
I don’t need perfect, I don’t need pretty
I need you to mean it when you’re with me
But every time you say the words
It feels like you’re somewhere else

[Chorus]
In the way
That you tell me
That you love me
Lies no truth
In the way
That you tell me
That you love me
Lies no truth


[Verse 2]
You think love is staying, you think love is “I don’t leave”
But you can be right beside me and still not be with me
But I’m not asking for a promise, I’m not asking to feel “fine”
I’m asking you to be with me—without leaving all the time:
To let me in, to let me close

[Prechorus]
You hand me silence, call it “peace”
You call it “fine” when I’m on my knees
And I’m so tired of translating
What should be spoken plain

[Chorus]
In the way
That you tell me
That you love me
Lies no truth
In the way
That you tell me
That you love me
Lies no truth


[Bridge]
Maybe you mean it in your language
Maybe you think this is enough
But I’m not built for empty sentences
I can’t survive on borrowed love
Don’t tell me “always” like a warning
Don’t tell me “forever” like a shield
If you can’t hold me when I’m breaking
If you can’t feel what I can feel

[Breakdown]
Say it again—
Look at me when you do
Say it again—
And watch me not believe you

[Final Chorus]
In the way
That you tell me
That you love me
Lies no truth
In the way
That you hold me
Like you’re nowhere
I fall through

[Outro]
We’re in the same room
But you’re not here