You Don’t Get To Take Anymore

I learned the language of forgiveness

Before I learned to say “enough.”

I made excuses for your failures,

Kept pretending you were tough.

I carried all your broken pieces,

Held the weight you wouldn’t hold.

Gave you chances after chances,

While you took more than you told.

You came with empty hands reaching,

Always needing something more.

Never asking what it cost me,

Never seeing what you tore.

I kept lighting up your darkness,

While mine was fading away.

I kept making myself smaller

Just to give you room to stay.

But I’m done bleeding for somebody

Who won’t even stop the knife.

I’ve spent too long losing pieces

Just to make room in your life.

I gave my heart to the ones who only took,

Gave my time to the ones who never looked.

Gave everything until there was nothing left,

While you stood there taking every breath.

You called my kindness a weakness,

Thought my patience meant I’d stay.

But I’m done being the person

You remember only when you need my help again.

I was the hand reaching into the fire,

I was the voice when nobody cared.

But even a heart full of compassion

Breaks when nobody’s there.

So hear me now…

You don’t get to take anymore.

I know what it’s like to have nothing,

To reach out and find no hand.

That’s why I gave you my forgiveness,

Why I tried to understand.

But you confused my compassion

For a weakness you could use.

You saw an open door inside me

And took everything you could.

Every promise you abandoned,

Every line you crossed before,

Was another piece of myself

That I won’t give anymore.

I’m not heartless.

I’m not cold.

I’m just tired

Of losing control.

My compassion isn’t a contract.

My forgiveness isn’t a door.

My empathy isn’t permission

For you to hurt me anymore.

Call me selfish.

Call me changed.

You never saw the damage

That you left behind your name.

I’m not the villain

For choosing to survive.

I gave my heart until it broke in two,

Gave my soul until I disappeared for you.

But I found the pieces you left behind,

And I’m finally making them mine.

The world still needs kindness,

The world still needs light.

But even a flame burns out

When it fights every night.

I’ll still help the helpless,

I’ll still stand when others fall.

But I won’t let someone’s selfishness

Take everything I am at all.

So remember this moment…

The person you kept taking from

Finally closed the door.

You don’t get to take anymore.