For kelia

Kelia, I remember when your laugh

Could fill a room with golden light,

Before you learned to walk the path

Of loving men who dim your sight.

They come with flowers and promises,

Then slowly steal your peace away,

Their anger builds like storm-dark seas

While you convince yourself to stay.

You tell me that you know it's wrong,

That this one hurts you just like all

The others did, but still you long

To catch them when they're bound to fall.

Sweet Kelia, can't you see the way

You shrink yourself to fit their mold?

The girl I knew would never stay

In love that leaves her heart so cold.

Your trauma taught you to believe

That love must come with thorns and scars,

But Kelia, you deserve reprieve

From these false and fallen stars.

I've watched you wear that painted smile

While dying slowly from within,

Each toxic love erodes your while

Until you don't know where you've been.

But somewhere deep inside you still

Lives that bright and fearless soul—

The one who laughed upon the hill

Before these men had taken toll.

Kelia, break these rusty chains,

Step into the light you've lost,

Your worth is more than all these pains,

You're not the one who pays the cost.

One day you'll choose to love someone

Who lifts you up instead of down,

And Kelia, when that day has come,

You'll wear joy like a golden crown.