There It Is Again

New street, new lights

I thought I knew this part

Smile for the cameras

Wave before we start

But something feels different

The second that I step down

No one comes closer

They just stare me up and down

I hear it in the whispering

I see it in their eyes

Like I walked in wearing

Some kind of disguise

I know that look

I know that tone

Before you even ask it

I already know

“Where’s your owner?”

There it is again

“Who let you come here?”

“Who said you could pretend?”

Every face is a question

Every question is a wall

I came here just to sing for you

Now I feel ten feet small

Where’s my owner?

Why do you need to know?

Why does every step I take

Need someone else to say I can go?

Someone laughs behind me

Someone pulls their child away

Someone says, “It’s dangerous

To let those things behave this way”

Those things.

Right.

I keep walking forward

Like I didn’t hear a word

Like my smile isn’t getting

A little more absurd

They don’t ask what I’m singing

They don’t ask why I came

They ask who I belong to

Before they ask my name

I know that look

I know that tone

Like being here alone

Means I’ve done something wrong

“Where’s your owner?”

There it is again

“Who let you come here?”

“Who said you could pretend?”

Every face is a question

Every question is a wall

I came here just to sing for you

Now I feel ten feet small

Where’s my owner?

Why do you need to know?

Why does every step I take

Need someone else to say I can go?

Maybe I should leave

Maybe that’s what you want

Make myself smaller

Make myself gone

I was excited this morning

I wanted to see this place

Now I’m counting every doorway

Trying not to meet another face

I didn’t come here to fight you

I didn’t come here to prove

That I deserve the sidewalk

Every time I fucking move

“Where’s your owner?”

It’s louder in my head

“Where’s your owner?”

Even when no one says it

Every stare is a warning

Every silence says enough

I thought I knew what freedom felt like

Why does being free feel this rough?

Where’s my owner?

I don’t know what you want me to say

I just wanted to see your city.

Now I just want to get away.