Ruby Thorne - Cardboard Crown Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Cafeteria lights flicker dim and cold
You're cutting shapes from boxes that were sold
Brown paper kingdoms built from what we find
December's gray but gold inside your mind

[Pre-Chorus]
Fingers trace the edges, careful now
Making magic from the things they'd throw away somehow

[Chorus]
Your cardboard crown, it fits just right
Held together by the Christmas lights
In this fluorescent kingdom we survive
Making beauty just to stay alive
Your cardboard crown, our secret sign
When all the world's too harsh and cold and blind

[Verse 2]
Empty lunch trays, whispers down the hall
But you're a king against the concrete walls
They'll never know the power that we found
In crafting hope from what fell to the ground
Cheap glitter stolen from the dollar store
Makes constellations they can't ignore

[Chorus]
Your cardboard crown, it fits just right
Held together by the Christmas lights
In this fluorescent kingdom we survive
Making beauty just to stay alive
Your cardboard crown, our secret sign
When all the world's too harsh and cold and blind

[Bridge]
Remember how we laughed that winter day
When teacher tried to throw your crown away
But you just smiled and made another one
'Cause they can't break what we've already won

[Verse 3]
Now years have passed, but still I close my eyes
And see you wearing stars beneath those skies
The richest kids had nothing on our dreams
We ruled an empire built on torn seams

[Chorus]
Your cardboard crown, it fits just right
Held together by the Christmas lights
In this fluorescent kingdom we survive
Making beauty just to stay alive
Your cardboard crown, our secret sign
When all the world's too harsh and cold and blind

[Outro]
In empty halls where hope feels paper-thin
We wear our crowns and learn to live within
These kingdoms made of cardboard and of gold
Where stories of resistance still unfold