This song is for all the little girls who had their childhood stolen from them
WHAT THEY TOOK
(Alternative Soul — The Testimony)
Intro
(Single piano note.)
I was five years old
the first time
someone took
what wasn’t theirs.
I didn’t have a word for it.
I just knew
something left me
that never came back.
⸻
Verse 1
I learned about love
in the wrong rooms
from the wrong hands
at the wrong age.
I learned that wanting
meant being taken.
That closeness
had a cost my body paid.
They called it love.
They called it family.
They called it
what happens
behind closed doors.
I called it confusion.
Because I was five.
Five-year-olds
don’t have language
for violation.
I just knew
I was supposed to be small.
Supposed to be silent.
Supposed to give
whatever they came for —
and call it normal.
⸻
Pre-Chorus
They stole years
before I knew
what years were worth.
They installed beliefs
in a child’s body
before she could question them:
Your body is not yours.
Being wanted is love.
I believed it.
Because I was five.
And they were supposed
to keep me safe.
⸻
Chorus
What they took
I didn’t know to protect.
What they took
I didn’t know I had yet.
My body learned love wrong
before I learned love at all.
What they took
left me running
from myself
for years.
Confused.
Used.
Not loved.
Just taken.
⸻
Verse 2
It wasn’t one room.
It wasn’t one name.
It was repetition
confirming the first lie:
Your body is currency.
Your worth is what you give.
So I gave.
Before I knew
I had a choice.
Before I knew
love wasn’t supposed
to cost me everything.
⸻
Pre-Chorus
I ran from who they made me.
From the woman
who gave herself away
to feel wanted.
I ran from the body
taught it was exchange,
not home.
Until I stopped.
Turned around.
And saw her.
Five years old.
Waiting for someone safe.
I said —
I see you.
I’m here.
Nobody takes from you again.
⸻
Chorus
What they took
I’m taking back.
What they broke
I rebuilt from that.
My body learns love right
now that I know love at all.
What they took
doesn’t define me
anymore.
⸻
Bridge
(Just voice.)
You did nothing wrong.
Not once.
You were five.
The adults who failed you
failed you completely.
Your body was never the problem.
Your need for love was never the problem.
You deserved safe love.
You always did.
And you found it.
In yourself.
⸻
Final Chorus
What they took
became the fire.
What they broke
became the ground.
My body knows love now.
Real love.
What they took
didn’t take everything.
Because I’m still here.
Still loving.
Still whole.
⸻
Outro
I see you.
I always will.
You were five years old.
And none of it
was ever
your fault.
(Piano resolves.)
CoherenceInBloom