I sleep in layers, thick with doubt
My breath fogs up the fear I drown
The walls don’t speak, but they recall
The nights I didn’t warm at all
My pulse is slow, a thread, a line
A promise wrapped in borrowed time

Each part of me still shakes alone
Like I was built from ice and bone

This is the temperature of staying alive
A quiet burn behind my eyes
Not quite dead, but not quite right
I hold my body like a lie
Too cold to dream, too numb to cry
Chronic hypothermia is eating me alive

My fingers twitch, they never bloom
I light a match in every room
But nothing sticks, the heat won’t stay
It flees like everything I prayed
They say I feel too much, too fast
But I just freeze and let it pass

I fake the fire, I wear the role
But I’ve gone frostbite in my soul

This is the temperature of staying alive
A pulse beneath a glassy sky
A body built on borrowed light
I dress in silence, sleep in spite
Too cold to beg, too proud to try
This is the temperature of staying alive

I used to dance in softer skins
But time tore holes I couldn’t mend
Now every hug feels like a test
And every kiss is secondhand
But if you see me don’t look away
I’m just surviving in my way

Still here, still cold, still undefined
I walk through fire, but I don’t ignite
Too close to love, too far to try
This is the temperature of staying alive