“8. My Story to Belong” from The House That Trauma Built by Li Jean-Luc Harris. Released: 2026. Track 8.
Lyrics:
(Verse 1)
Eighteen years old and the cliff edge arrived
No parachute woven, no net to survive
Just a handful of cash and a shame burning deep
A promise of silence I wanted to keep
So I walked to the shops with my head hanging low
For a tent and a rucksack, nowhere else to go
I needed to vanish, to fade from the light
And become just another ghost in the night.
(Chorus) And the woods were my shelter, the leaves were my bed
A bizarre camping trip inside my own head
For a month or two, I could play the cruel game
Pretending that freedom and lonely were the same
But the winter hit hard and the fantasy died
With just the cold ground and nowhere to hide.
(Verse 2)
The hunger for something to quiet the pain
Brought a chemical comfort, again and again
Spice’s cruel ghost in the sharp, winter air
My hygiene was failing, too broken to care
I was losing the battle, losing the hope
At the end of a frayed and a shortened rope
Just a dirty reflection of who I once was
Breaking myself under nobody’s laws.
(Bridge)
Then a call from the council, a voice on the phone
A room in a hotel, no longer alone
Just a bed and a shower, a lock on the door
But it felt like a kingdom I’d not seen before
And the warmth in that small room, it started a thaw
A chance to rewrite my own personal law
I could wash, I could breathe, I could stand on the floor
And I beat the addiction, and I wanted more.
(Chorus)
Yeah, the woods were my shelter, the leaves were my bed
A bizarre camping trip inside my own head
For a month or two, I survived the cruel game
But freedom’s not living with that kind of shame
‘Cause the winter hit hard, but my spirit survived
And in that hotel room, my future arrived.
(Outro)
From a tent in the woods… to a key in the door…
You have to know darkness… to know what you’re fighting for…
From a ghost in the trees… to the man that you see…
That hotel room… it built the foundation for me.