Dear Mama, I Survived You

Dear Mama (What You Left Me With)

Verse 1

Dear Mama… I been holding this a long time,

Thirteen years old, you let the state sign.

I ain’t understand it, I just felt the shift,

One hand let me go, one hand took my gift.

SSI checks coming, but I’m gone from your sight,

I was learning how to survive every night.

Ain’t nobody teach me how to be a child,

I grew up quick, I just adapted to the wild.

I used to wonder if you missed me at all,

Or if silence was your way of letting me fall.

I ain’t write this just to blame or accuse,

I’m just telling you the truth I had to live through.

⸻

Verse 2

I built myself up from a place you ain’t see,

Every lesson came hard, every scar taught me.

Detroit in my spirit, I move how I move,

I don’t trust easy, I got something to prove.

War in my body, yeah I went overseas,

Came back stronger, still carrying grief.

I made something out of what was left behind,

Turned pressure into purpose, pain into grind.

You wasn’t there when I needed you most,

That’s just truth, I ain’t dressing it close.

But I won’t lie—I still searched for your love,

Even knowing it wasn’t something you gave enough of.

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Verse 3

Now I’m a mama… and I see it clear,

Every choice I make got my babies right here.

I could never walk away, I could never detach,

They my whole world, ain’t no coming back from that.

So I don’t understand it… I won’t pretend,

How you let go of me like I wasn’t your kin.

But I made a decision—I break that chain,

My kids gon’ feel love, not question their name.

I protect what I got with everything in me,

They gon’ know they mama never turned empty.

What I didn’t receive, I still chose to give,

That’s the difference between surviving and how I live.

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Verse 4

I ain’t writing this to tear you apart,

I’m writing this ‘cause it’s heavy on my heart.

You made choices, and they shaped who I be,

But they didn’t destroy what God placed in me.

I forgive… but I don’t rewrite truth,

I carry both—the pain and the proof.

You part of my story, I won’t erase that,

But I built my own ending, I stand on that.

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Outro

Dear Mama… I hope you hear me one day,

Not with defense, but with honesty and weight.

I’m not that little girl lost in the state,

I’m a woman now… and I carry my name.