Brick by brick

Title: “Brick by Brick” written by Carisma Cole (aka Haylee Thorne)

They never ask if I’m okay

Just assume I’ll find a way

I’m the shoulder, I’m the light

I’m the one who makes it right

But when I stumble, when I break

When I bend beneath the weight

It’s silence like a funeral bell

And I face the fall by myself

They took and took ‘til I was hollow

But still expected me tomorrow

To show up smiling, same old me

While I cried where no one sees

And brick by brick, I built the wall

Each “where were you?” stacked tall

You can’t see the cracks they left behind

‘Cause I learned to patch them over time

I won’t stop loving, I won’t turn cold

But I’m not so easy to hold

You don’t get to ask why I hide

When you watched me break… and stepped aside

They say I’m strong, like that’s a gift

But strength just means you never quit

Even when you’re bleeding out

You smile and swallow every doubt

I gave them love they didn’t earn

And stayed through fires they’d never burn

But when I needed just a hand—

Not a soul would understand

They called me sunshine in their storms

But vanished when I needed warmth

I begged in silence, screamed in grace

And still they turned away their face

So brick by brick, I raised the wall

Every “I’m fine” built it tall

Each time they let my silence slide

Another layer fortified

I’ll love again—but not like that

Not wide open, not laid flat

You don’t get to call it pride

When you never even tried

I’m not bitter, I’m just tired

Of being the one admired

Until I ask for something real

Then suddenly, they never feel

But I refuse to lose my heart

To make it steel, to fall apart

I’ll still give, but now I see—

No one gives like me, to me

So brick by brick, I built it high

A quiet castle in the sky

You’ll find me here—still kind, still true

But not so easy to break through

I’ll pour, but I will not drain

I’ll hold, but not carry pain

If I’m hard to reach, look back and see—

It’s just the wall you built in me