Don’t tell me
I’m hard to love
 Don’t tell me
You can’t understand
 I know your heart is good
I know you mean no harm
 But some words stay
Long after they are gone
 And every sentence
Cuts a little deep
 Leaving marks
You don’t see
 
I don’t need answers
I don’t need a plan
I just need your silence
Holding my hand

Can you love me like this
 Just like I am
Without trying to fix me
Without trying to change me
Can you sit beside me
 When the world gets loud
 Can you stay
And not turn away now
 
I want peace
I want space
I want kindness
More than anything
You know how to fight
You know how to survive
But can you leave those battles
 Outside our lives
 Because every day
I disappear a little more
And hide the things
 I used to say before
 
I stop talking
 Before I’m even done
 Afraid you’ll give advice
Instead of love
 
Can you love me like this
 Just like I am
 Without trying to fix me
 Without trying to change me
 Can you sit beside me
 When the world gets loud
 Can you stay
And not turn away now
 
Please let me finish
 The thoughts inside my head
Please don’t rush
To tell me what I said
 Just listen
Just be here
Just hold the space
 And stay near
 I can’t be more
Than what I am
And if I try
I lose myself again
 
Can you love me like this
Just like I am
 Not a better version
 Not another plan
 Maybe I’m not
 Everything you dreamed of
 But can you love me
 For who I am
And nothing more
And nothing more
 
Can you
 Love me like this
 Can you
 Love me like this