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.

⸻

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.

⸻

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.

⸻

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.

female, rap