Lyrics

[Intro — spoken, quiet]
Don’t do that.
Don’t be gentle.
I know what to do with cold.
Kindness is where I get confused.
[Verse 1]
You touched my shoulder
like there wasn’t a price,
spoke to me softly
and I checked twice.
No hidden favor,
no knife in the sleeve,
no reason to stay—
that’s what I couldn’t believe.
I know how to read
a slammed door,
a short reply,
a war across the floor.
But tenderness?
That language never stayed long enough
for me to learn.
[Pre-Chorus]
So if you mean it,
don’t say it too clearly.
If you stay close,
don’t stand too near me.
I know how endings work.
I just don’t know
what to do before them.
[Chorus]
Please don’t be kind to me.
I might start believing you.
Please don’t be kind to me.
I might forget what people do.
Don’t make a home
inside my guard.
Don’t make the leaving twice as hard.
Please don’t be kind to me.
Cruelty I understand.
[Verse 2]
I know the shape
of disappointment.
I know the weight
of being replaced.
I know how quickly
warm hands turn distant,
how affection changes face.
So when you ask
if I’ve eaten today,
when you remember
what I forgot to say,
when you stay
without demanding anything—
I start looking
for the trap.
[Pre-Chorus]
Because kindness
has always had an ending.
And hope
has always charged interest.
I can survive another goodbye.
I’m not sure
I can survive another beginning.
[Chorus]
Please don’t be kind to me.
I might start believing you.
Please don’t be kind to me.
I might forget what people do.
Don’t make a home
inside my guard.
Don’t make the leaving twice as hard.
Please don’t be kind to me.
Cruelty I understand.
[Bridge — stripped down]
The worst part?
I want it.
That’s why I hate it.
I want the hand on my back.
The message that says
“Did you get home?”
The silence that doesn’t feel empty.
The room that doesn’t ask me
to perform.
I want all of it.
And every part of me
is waiting for the cost.
[Break — spoken]
“You can trust me.”
...
That’s exactly the kind of sentence
I don’t trust.
[Final Chorus]
Please don’t be kind to me.
You’ll make the walls forget their job.
Please don’t be kind to me.
You’ll make me want what I gave up.
Don’t make me soft.
Don’t make me stay.
Don’t give me something
I can’t replace.
Please don’t be kind to me.
Unless...
you mean to remain.
[Outro — whispered]
Cruelty never surprised me.
Kindness always did.