Loved like a wife

(HVENLY...)

I wasn’t playing a role

I wasn’t pretending

This is just me

How I love

How I show up

How I stay

I loved you like a wife before I ever had the title

Showed up like forever was already decided

You called it pressure, I called it devotion

You called it too much, I called it real emotion

Now I see it clear, it was never aligned

I was building a home, you were killing time

I check on you when nobody asks me to

I care in ways I don’t get back from you

I remember things you don’t even say twice

That’s just how I move when I love in my life

I don’t love halfway, I don’t love small

I don’t disappear when things get hard or fall

I stay in the storm, I stay in the fight

Even when it hurts me deep inside

But you took that softness, took that care

Like it would always just be there

Like I wouldn’t notice the distance grow

Like I wouldn’t feel it when you go cold

And I tried to explain it

Tried to make you see

But you never understood

What you had in me

I loved you like a wife before I ever had the title

Showed up like forever was already decided

You called it pressure, I called it devotion

You called it too much, I called it real emotion

Now I see it clear, it was never aligned

I was building a home, you were killing time

I wasn’t asking for perfect, just effort and truth

Some consistency back in what I gave you

Instead I got silence, mixed signals, delay

Love only showing up when it fit your day

And I kept thinking maybe you’d grow into it

Maybe you’d meet me halfway through it

But love don’t grow when it’s one-sided energy

And I lost myself trying to make you see me

I can’t keep bleeding for someone unsure

Can’t keep giving to a door that won’t open for sure

So I’m stepping back even though it hurts

Even though I gave you my whole universe

(Oh-oh)

This ain’t bitterness

This is clarity

I gave real love

You gave convenience to me

And I won’t shrink down

To be easier to hold

I’d rather walk away

Than stay half-loved, half-known

I loved you like a wife before I ever had the title

Showed up like forever was already decided

You called it pressure, I called it devotion

You called it too much, I called it real emotion

Now I see it clear, it was never aligned

I was building a home, you were killing time

(HVENLY...)

I don’t regret how I loved

I just regret who I gave it to....