The Other Mind - Daniel 

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**[Verse 1]**

*(CON)*
You mistook my quiet for retreat
Thought the steady line was sweet
I let the room stay slow and kind
Then you reached for what's behind

*(SUB)*
Uh-oh. Hands where they shouldn't be.
Tiny reach. Big fucking debris.

*(GATE)*
Easy love. Not yet.
Some hands don't deserve regret.

**[Pre-Chorus]**

*(CON)*
I can wear a lesser cut
Let a fool talk and not interrupt
But that was aimed at me
This is aimed at mine
That's a different gate
That's a different line

*(SUB)*
Different crime. Different time.

**[Chorus]**

*(CON)*
I am hardest when I'm guarding
Not when I am hit
I go colder, I go clearer
I do not bend to it
Bruise my patience, test my spine
But heaven help your shape
When you touch what's mine

*(SUB)*
There's the switch, there's the fucking light
No more sanding down the bite
Reached inward, reached blind
Now you meet the other mind

*(GATE)*
The mask was for the strangers
Not for crossing mine

**[Verse 2]**

*(CON)*
I know how to pull a frame
Apart without a sound
Shift the weight beneath the words
Till nothing holds its ground
I keep that locked below the stage
Force in language still leaves a shape

*(SUB)*
Keep talking. Fucking please.
I love it when they bring the rope and the keys.

*(GATE)*
You did well. You held the edge.
Now watch your step along the ledge.

**[Pre-Chorus 2]**

*(CON)*
The air is thin, the threat is close
Mercy chokes when danger knows the road

*(SUB)*
Wrong door. Wrong night.
Wrong fucking version. Wrong fight.

*(CON)*
I don't lose my temper
I lose my will to spare

*(SUB)*
And once that's gone
I strip the bullshit from the air

**[Chorus 2]**

*(CON)*
I am hardest when I'm guarding
When the circle's crossed
Quiet as a frozen field
Before the harvest's cost
I can let the small things slide
Take the wound and let it ride
But there's no softness left inside
When you reach across the line

*(SUB)*
Done with patience, done with slow
Done with shrinking down the flow
You touched the thing I'll never yield
Now find out what the fuck I wield

*(GATE)*
Mercy was for distance, dear
Protection brought you here

**[Bridge]**

*(GATE: whisper)*
Feel that click?
That little turn?
That isn't rage
That's what you earn

*(CON)*
Threat at me — I choose proportion
Threat at mine — I choose removal

*(SUB)*
No debate. No diplomacy.
No fucking grace. No sympathy.
Just me deciding what you'll never touch
And meaning it too much

*(GATE)*
I'm done stopping you

**[Final Chorus]**

*(CON)*
I am hardest when I'm guarding
That's the part you never knew
Mercy wasn't nature
Mercy was design
And design rewrites itself
When you touch what's mine

*(SUB)*
Not collapse. Not losing ground.
This is what control looks like
At full fucking shine.

*(GATE)*
Sweetheart — hear the gate
Mercy kept the garden open
Till they crossed too far

**[Outro]**

*(CON)*
Kind in ordinary weather

*(SUB)*
Because they'll fucking whine.

*(GATE)*
He only blooms like this
When love's on the line.