This House is Not Your Home

They're rewritin' the deed to this body of mine

with a footnote of scripture, poison on the vine.

They're drawin' new borders in my blood, in my bones

and talkin' 'bout the tenants in authoritative tones.

They want to board the windows up so no one can see in

and claim the choices I would make are some kind of mortal sin.

This ain't a temple for their worship, this ain't a plot of land;

this is the only thing I have that they don't understand.

This architecture tells a story they are tryin' to erase,

puttin' their own portraits up all over my own face.

They wanna name the rooms and tell me where I'm allowed to be

inside the very home that was created just for me.

'Cause this house is not your home, this vessel is not your state;

you can't legislate the spirit, you can only legislate the hate.

You can knock upon the door with the full force of the law,

but my soul has got a deadbolt, and it's the only one you never saw.

Yeah, this skin is not your property, this heart is not your prize

and the truth is burnin' brighter than the panic in your eyes.

They speak a different language, a dialect of dust,

of men who wrote the rules down based on power and on lust.

To own a person's future, to regulate their form,

to tell a soul its nature is to deviate the norm.

They see a blueprint they can alter, a structure to condemn,

a problem for the ages they can solve with just a pen.

But the ink they use is fading, and the paper's wearing thin

and they can't account for the defiant fire that burns within.

This house has got a memory, this house has got a will

and when you try to break it, it just stands up even stiller.

It will not be evicted, it will not be possessed;

it is the only sanctuary where my spirit comes to rest.

'Cause this house is not your home, this vessel is not your state;

you can't legislate the spirit, you can only legislate the hate.

You can knock upon the door with the full force of the law,

but my soul has got a deadbolt, and it's the only one you never saw.

Yeah, this skin is not your property, this heart is not your prize

and the truth is burnin' brighter than the panic in your eyes.