When we first met,
I truly thought I was Cinderella—
not because I needed saving,
but because somehow,
even in the mess,
you made it all feel magical.

The nights felt golden.
Your words were spells,
and I believed every one.

We did everything right.
Or at least,
we did everything the way love told us to—
with open hearts and reckless hope.
But the world had other plans.
The odds…
they were never in our favor.

You were beautiful chaos.
You swept me off my feet,
and I let you.
Not because I couldn’t stand on my own—
but because it felt so good to lean.

With time,
that magic faded into something colder.
You called me crazy.
But was I really?

Or were you just tired of hiding
the pieces of yourself I finally started to see?

Yes—
I’m an addict.
Not because I wanted to be.
But because somewhere along the way,
I mistook numbness for peace,
and love for escape.

If I could go back—
God, I’d undo the blow.
I’d pull that night from the sky
and rewrite it without the high.
But I was in love.
Or I thought I was.
Was it real?
Or just another illusion
you let me fall into?

Maybe you always knew
how this would end.

But now,
this is my story.
And I finally see that.

So I sit with the ache,
the ruin,
the memories we buried in dust and denial—
and I do the one thing
you never thought I could:

I choose myself.

I edit the pages,
tear out the lies,
press the pain into poetry.
And with shaking hands,
I close the chapter
where I loved you more than I ever loved me.

This isn’t a fairytale.

But it’s still a love story.
A different kind.
The kind where the girl walks away—
not bitter,
not broken—
but whole.

And ready for her sequel.

You ain’t no preacher, but you saved me still,
Tatted knuckles, cold stare, but your love? Too real.
A Westside gangster with a lovers  soul,
Took a shattered heart and made it whole.

You never flinched when I snapped in pain,
Never judged the storm, just danced in my rain.
I came from chaos, broken, undone,
But you held me like I was second to none.

I got trauma stitched deep in my bones,
But with you? I ain't never felt alone.
You didn’t run from the ruins I hid,
You built a home in a place no one did.

You know my name, but call me "Free,"
Cause that's who I am when you're next to me.
I ain’t soft, but you softened the edge,
Taught me love on a different pledge.

You’re the calm in my temper, the hush in my heat,
My heart had a limp, but you made it beat.
Every wrong thought I’ve ever had—you alredy knew,
But never once threw shame like most dudes do.

You’re that slow roll down the boulevard, High fade, mind sharp, hands scarred.
But gentle with me like I’m glass in your **** ,
Calling me out,  while keeping me calm.

A gangster, yeah, but not just that,
You’re the one who listens when the whole world laughs.
You see through the mess, the mask I wear,
And you kiss my pain like it ain’t even there.

We talk dreams in my late-night smoke,
Laughed through tears when the world went broke.
I ain’t gotta explain the things I done,
You just nod, “That’s why your the one.”

You don’t talk God, but you live like grace,
A warrior with three dots written all in his face.
You fix what you didn’t break, heal what you didn’t touch,
And I never knew a gangster could love like this

So when they ask me why I ride for you...
I say, “He held me down when no one knew.
When my world got dark, he brought that light,
Didn’t save me with words—he just stayed and fought right, and He wants all the Smoke ."

You don’t need halos or heaven’s gate,
Cause you loved me bold and carried the weight.
And I swear on every scar I’ve earned,
With you is the peace I never learned.

So here’s to us—two stories deep,
Two souls that never played for keeps.
You’re my calm, my fight, my truth in the mess,
And in this world of almosts, you're my yes.

You wear that name like a badge,
but all I see is a coward in drag—
maskin’ your shame in declarations,
pretendin’ you’re a man of patience,
while your truth drips venom
in the silence between your statements.

You fooled the world with your fake-*** smile,
but I was the one who stayed through the trials—
through every slammed door,
every bruise on my soul,
every lie you swore
just to keep control.

You said "family,"
but treated us like property,
talkin’ ‘bout love while poisoning legacy.
You tried to dim my light
so yours could shine,
but baby—
you ain’t divine,
you just a dark cloud
floatin’ in borrowed time.

You played daddy when it looked good in court,
but where were you
when the cries came at night like a storm?
When they asked for you,
I held the silence in my mouth like a blade
and swallowed the ache—
so they wouldn’t inherit your hate.

I begged peace.
You gave war.
I offered olive branches,
you threw stones and slammed doors.
Thought the judge could define me?
Nah—
my strength ain’t on your paperwork.
It’s in every **** morning
I wake up and still put my children first.

You speak in perjury
'cause the truth don't live in your lungs,
you forget:
I birthed our daughters—
but I BECAME their home.

You stalk, you scream,
you bottle your rage—
then toss it like glass
on our sacred space.
But even when you showed up
like a devil in the driveway—
I stood between you and their innocence
like a lioness mid-pray.

I loved you once—
now I pity the boy.
'Cause a real man doesn’t weaponize
what he helped create
just to destroy.

So this is for you,
the villain in your own **** tale—
a boy in a man’s skin,
scared to face where he failed.
I don’t need revenge,
I don’t seek your name—
‘Cause God’s already seen
the heart you tried to profane.

And me?
I'm rising.
Burned, not broken.
Angry, but chosen.
And every lie you told
just proved how loud truth’s spoken.

The wicked games you played with my heart
were never love—just shadows in the dark.
You dimmed my light,
hoping I’d shrink,
but I rose anyway—
even when I couldn’t think.

I loved you like my weather,
even when the skies turned gray.
I believed in your storms,
stood in the rain,
thinking maybe you'd wash the pain away.

But you didn’t.

You broke me.
Bent me.
Left me bruised in silence.
But I became a mother—
not out of pain,
but defiance.

You made me grace
in the shape of a woman
who’d rather be broken
than let her babies feel abandoned.

I sacrificed dreams
so they’d never lose sleep.
I held the weight of the world
and still found strength
to speak—

Even now.

You lie in courts,
twist truths like vines,
but you can’t erase the footsteps
that were always mine.
I was there,
when you weren't.
I gave love,
when you burnt
every bridge,
every chance,
and still,
I danced
in the fire of your absence.

You keep my daughter
like a weapon,
but I won’t raise war—
my love’s not for show,
it’s rooted in more.

No hate lives here.
Only sorrow that you lost your way.
But I—
I never left.
I never strayed.

Even when you only came in the night,
strung out and searching,
I stayed soft,
I stayed right.

Because my heart?
It don’t close.
It’s a safe place
for broken souls to grow.

But don’t mistake my love for weakness.
Don’t confuse my grace for fear.
Nothing stands in my way—
not lies,
not time,
not even you, my dear.

We had a bond, but it was never real love
You dressed like peace, but you came with a grudge
Had me dancing in the dark, heart cold to the touch

You was there when they left, yeah, you slid in slick
Held my pain like a blade, yeah, you cut real quick
Had my mind on pause, but my soul on trip
Every hit was a promise that you’d never commit

Told me I’d be fly, but I just fell harder
Played me like a deck, now I’m just smarter
I was just a daughter tryna make it out the slaughter
But you had me chasing highs that only made me darker

I fed you my youth, my light, my flame
And you fed me back guilt, scars, and shame
I gave you my nights, my lungs, my name
Now I’m writing this goodbye, ain’t playin’ your game

You ain’t no friend, you a thief in disguise
But I found God, and He opened my eyes
Now I walk clean, don’t need your lies
This is farewell, I’m done with the highs
You ain’t got no hold on me
You took my breath, but not my destiny
I walked through fire, now I finally see
You never gave love, just a fake remedy
So this my goodbye, don’t write, don’t call
I rose from the pit, I survived it all
Was down on my knees, now I’m standin’ tall
Yeah, you had me once — but you won’t make me fall
You had me strung out, but I strung these rhymes
Turned pain into power, now I’m speakin’ in lines
Every hit was a chain, every come-down a crime
But I broke them all off — now the healing is mine

You ain’t welcome in my crib, in my head, in my blood
Had me drownin’ in a drought, chasin’ fake love
You ain’t family, you poison — dressed in a hug
Told me you’d help, but you just dug the plug

Now I see kids with eyes like mine
Hurt young queens tryna stop the time
And I tell ‘em: “Baby girl, your light still shines
Don’t let them shadows rewrite your lines.”

‘Cause I’m proof — the lost can come back found
Even when hope buried deep in the ground
I done danced with demons, been hell-bound
But now I got angels walkin’ all around
I seen girls trade dreams for a line on the sink
Seen brothers go ghost over one lil’ drink
They don’t tell you ‘bout the shakes, the cold, the brink
Just the numb, not the fall when you can’t even think

I was her — the girl with the scars on her wrist
Starin’ at the sky like, “God, does Heaven exist?”
Couldn’t look in the mirror, ‘cause I’d flinch at the glimpse
A soul full of cracks from every hit I missed

But now I speak truth with these lungs you tried to steal
And every rhyme I spit is another layer healed
I walk in my purpose, even if it’s uphill
‘Cause the devil had a grip, but God signed the deal

Now I mother six with a warrior’s grace
Still got flashbacks, still remember the taste
But I don’t chase death — I chase faith
And that’s something no substance can ever replace

I ain’t just survived — I was reborn in the storm
From the ashes of a girl, a lioness was formed
I carry babies on hips, truth in my palm
Sing lullabies with lungs that used to self-harm

I bled on floors nobody cleaned
Prayed to a God nobody seen
But He heard every cry through the smoke and the screams
And gave me a crown built from broken dreams

Now I stand for my kids — heart stitched and raw
A mother so fierce, even death hit pause
They could bury my body, but never my cause
Love lives in my name, and it breaks every law

So dear drugs — you lost me for good
I’d die for my babies the way real mommas should
But I didn’t die — I rose like I knew I would
With fire in my chest and a new kind of motherhood

I didn’t break — I bent so far, I snapped in secret.
Smiled through hell with mascara bleeding,
Made peace with demons just to feel needed.
They loved me best when I was self-defeated.

The mirror don’t lie, it just don’t care.
It watched me spiral, then dared me to stare.
I chased heaven in a bottle,
Crushed my worth inside a pill,
Told myself I had control
While crashing harder still.

He said I was crazy — I made that a crown.
Took every "too much" and burned this town.
But the silence screamed louder than any fight,
And the ones who “loved” me
Only came at night.

I wrote apologies in blood and smoke,
A lullaby for every hope I choked.
But the truth?
I was never broken.
Just wide awake in a world still frozen.

Now I’m falling in reverse —
Unlearning the lies.
Rewinding the damage,
Reviving what died.
I’m not the ashes you brushed off your shirt,
I’m the match that learned how to burn without hurt.

This isn’t revenge.
It’s resurrection.
It’s chaos with direction.
It’s every “never” I turned to “now.”
Watch me rise —
I forgot how.

So if I fall again, I’ll do it like thunder,
Loud. Ugly. Beautiful.
Ripping worlds asunder.

Because falling in reverse —
Ain’t falling at all.
It’s how the shattered girl
Learns to stand tall.