[Verse 1]
She arrived before the sun had cleared the hill,
A mind already restless, a heart already full,
Four bodies clustered in the house of what she'd earn,
Teaching her that tenderness and drive take turns,
She'd draft a sentence three times, get it right,
Then fold the paper over, keep it out of sight,

[PreChorus]
But the words she swallowed whole still shaped the room,
Every vision she set down took root and bloom,

[Chorus]
Kathleen, you are the full moon and the dawn,
The note held twice as long before it's gone,
Every contradiction you have carried is a chord,
Kathleen, you were born already keeping score,

[Verse 2]
She read the temperature of rooms before she spoke,
Felt the hairline fracture forming before it broke,
Kept her inner world as private as a locked bureau,
Let the ones beside her take the curtain call and glow,
Still, the vision never dimmed — she'd sketch the better world
On the back of every invoice, edges neatly curled,

[PreChorus]
She built her walls with justice as the mortar in between,
And every crack let through exactly what she'd always seen,

[Chorus]
Kathleen, the portrait hanging crooked on the wall
Was never proof you stumbled — you hung it, after all,
The fire you kept private still illumined every door,
Kathleen, the house you built in secret holds so much more,

[Verse 3]
Now a different season crosses into sharper air,
The pencil lifted, the account precise and fair,
She gave the ones she cherished everything they'd reach for,
But left herself the ledger without finding what she'd need for,
The frontier has already cleared a corridor of space,
For the self she kept in draft to step and take its place,

[PreChorus]
The tally's long, the column finally turned and bright,
What she withheld from herself now carries full daylight,

[Chorus]
Kathleen, the revision you've been circling is done,
The version you kept hidden is the one that won,
Every careful act of love you gave away returns,
Kathleen, the name upon the title page is yours — it's yours,

[Bridge]
She can lay the fourth draft down and let it stand,
No longer translate courage into someone else's hand,
The community she dreamed of and the visions she has drawn
Are not just out of reach — they were hers all along,

[Outro]
Kathleen, the stars were counting every step you made,
And not a single offering of yours has ever frayed,
The anthem that you wrote for everyone around
Was always meant for you — now let it sound,