Verse 1
She didn’t walk me through those doors
Didn’t warn me what a woman’s heart is for
Never taught me how to hold one right
So I broke the ones who tried to stay the night
She never showed me how to care or keep
So I learned to love in ways that cut too deep
Mama left me with an empty hand
So I passed the hurt to the one who took a stand
Pre-Chorus
My father never stepped in, he turned away
Didn’t teach me what a man should ever say
So I used every I love you too cheap
Even when I knew I wouldn’t keep
Chorus
How was I supposed to know how to love her right
When mama never showed me what that looked like?
How was I supposed to set the bar
When I ain’t never seen no woman fight for my heart?
So I hurt her, piece by piece
Turned her soft into something hard like me
I ain’t cruel, just broken in places she can’t see
How was I supposed to know, if she ain’t teach me?
Verse 2
I thought silence was a kind of care
So I left her crying, but I wasn’t there
I called distance a sign of love
’Cause I didn’t know a woman should lift me up
Never told her she was worth the fight
Only knew how to turn warmth cold at night
So I let bare minimum feel like gold
’Cause that’s the only kind of love I’d been told
Pre-Chorus
My father looked away, never raised me true
Didn’t show me how a man should follow through
’Cause mama never gave me that love one-on-one
So I mistook control for the real one
Chorus
How was I supposed to know how to love her right
When mama never showed me what that looked like?
How was I supposed to set the bar
When I ain’t never seen no woman fight for my heart?
So I hurt her, piece by piece
Turned her soft into something hard like me
I ain’t cruel, just broken in places she can’t see
How was I supposed to know, if she ain’t teach me?
Bridge
I needed arms that protected
Not ones that neglected
But I passed that neglect along
Now her strength is where I went wrong
So now, she’s leaving what I missed
Taking back her heart from every kiss
And I see too late what I should’ve been
I became the wound I was born within
Chorus
How was I supposed to know how to love her right
When my first woman left before I learned to fight?
Now she raises her standards like prayers to the sky
While I’m left alone just asking why
I still stumble, but now I see
The kind of man I never learned to be
And I pray my son won’t repeat what I’ve shown
So he won’t grow…
To hurt like I’ve known.