Can’t help that my voice shakes
I’m standing up here looking out  
With the lights shining on me for the first time

It’s not just my voice that’s shaking
You know that sound right before you speak
When you can hear everyone out there watching
Hear them all holding their breath
Waiting for you to take your first

I’m standing up here looking out
The lights are shining down on me for the first time
I can barely breathe for all the stillness that’s waiting
For me to take my first

I’m sorry that my voice shakes
But it’s not the only part of me that is
I’m petrified to be standing up here
Under the eyes of so many that are far better than I could ever be

I take my first while all of them are watching
My mind hisses with self doubt
And I can’t stop my legs from trembling under me

I think how the laughter might ring out if I were to collapse
But the only thing I can hear is my voice
Echoed out over the stillness
Everyone still holding their breath

Slowly the passion written invisible between the lines of my first
Push’s its way into my voice
Until there is so much of it the shaking is smothered into nothing

I’m still petrified  
As these lights shine down on me for the first time
And I stand before all these people
That are far better than I could ever be
As they all hold their breath
Listening to my first

Suddenly it’s all over  
Every one that sat so silently listening to my first
They stand now
All of these people that are so much better than I could ever be

They are applauding
I am shaking again

I think I will every time I stand up here
Listening to the silence of everyone holding their breath
As the lights shine down on me for what feels like the first time
I’ll still be petrified

Still be sorry that my voice shakes
That at any moment I might collapse
But I’ll always come back

Because the passion written invisible between the lines
Will come out again and smother my shaking into nothing
But I’ll still remember my first

Even on my last
I’ll still be petrified