I Wanna Leave

Intro

Got a map with corners bent, a name I haven't learned to own

(ah-ah)

A shoebox of maybe's under my bed

Verse

They say, take the job, take the ring, take the route the others know

Sunday dinner plans, futures folded like origami — neat and slow

My mother's voice is soft but it ties me up tighter than rope

My father's keys jingle like a metronome of someone else's hope

I keep a list of cities in the margin of my math homework

Train times scribbled in the back of a book that I never show

I practice leaving in the mirror (yeah), I practice brave until it breaks

But morning comes with habit and the courage always breaks

Pre-chorus

There’s a suitcase with a dent and a ticket I can’t buy

There’s a skyline in my head that I keep hiding under my sighs

I whisper to the ceiling (oh), I promise to myself at night

One day I’ll trade these rules for a road that’s mine

Chorus

I wanna leave, I wanna go (go, go)

I wanna write my name on a bus ticket, say goodbye (bye, bye)

I wanna leave, I wanna go (go, go)

But I’m too young to run and the street outside wants me to try later

I wanna leave, I wanna go (oh-oh)

I wanna fold up this life and post it where the sun hangs low

I wanna leave, I wanna go (alright)

Not tonight, not today — but soon, soon I’ll know

Verse

I steal an hour at midnight, standing by the mailbox light

The plan I whisper into coins: save enough for a different life

I watch their faces at the table like old postcards in frames

I memorize the tilt of their smiles so I can steal my name

There’s a bus that hums past my window with a promise in its drum

I trace the license plate and dream of somewhere far from where I’m from

My hands are small but stubborn — I fold a paper bird and let it go

It falters in the hallway but it learns to fly on its own

Pre-chorus

There’s a road that smells like rain and coffee from new mornings

There’s a version of me that’s louder, less apologizing

I tell myself a date (uh) and tuck it into my shirt

It’s private and it’s burning but it isn’t mine to hurt

Chorus

I wanna leave, I wanna go (go, go)

I wanna write my name on a bus ticket, say goodbye (bye, bye)

I wanna leave, I wanna go (go, go)

But I’m too young to run and the street outside wants me to try later

I wanna leave, I wanna go (oh-oh)

I wanna fold up this life and post it where the sun hangs low

I wanna leave, I wanna go (alright)

Not tonight, not today — but soon, soon I’ll know

Bridge

Count down with me — breathe in, hold it, let it go (let it go)

One day I’ll hear a number called and I’ll stand up slow (stand up slow)

I’ll stop saying sorry for the way my feet insist to roam

I’ll pack the little courage that I saved beneath my bones (yeah)

One day I’ll take the exit at the end of their sentences

One day I’ll fold my name into a lighter set of fences

And when I walk away I’ll sing it low so no one takes it back

A brand-new map