Me vs me

There ain’t nobody else to blame now.
Just the man I became…
and the boy that survived.

⸻

Verse 1 — Angry Self

I will burn bridges while standing on it
Just to remind you I don’t mind swimming
I learned real young don’t nobody stay
So leaving first feel like winning

I wasn’t raised on love and patience
I was raised on fear and silence
First five years taught one truth
Love and pain spoke the same language

Hands that fed me also hurt me
Voices that held me also cursed me
So tell me why you act surprised
That something broken still lives inside me

You call it wrong, I call it defense
You call it pain, I call it sense
You had a chance to grow up safe
I only had what I was left with

⸻

Verse 2 — Positive Self

I know where all that anger lives
I remember every door that closed
I remember wishing I was gone
At an age nobody should know

But that ain’t where the story ended
Someone reached and pulled us out
Gave us food, gave us a name
Gave us something to be proud about

They showed us work could build a life
They showed us trust could still exist
They showed us love without a price
You don’t get to pretend that don’t exist

I ain’t your enemy, I’m proof
We didn’t become what hurt us then
You ain’t just who we had to be
You’re also who we chose to be since then

⸻

Chorus — Both

Angry Self:
If I don’t fight, I disappear

Positive Self:
If you don’t stop, there’ll be nothing here

Angry Self:
Pain is the only thing that’s true

Positive Self:
Pain ain’t the only version of you

Both:
Me vs me, who survives tonight
The hand that heals or the hand that fights
Same damn soul, same damn skin
I don’t know which one wins

⸻

Verse 3 — Angry Self

It’s crazy how self-destruction
Feels like proof that they were wrong
Like if I break it with my own hands
At least the loss belongs

You say we had a second chance
But you don’t know what it cost to trust
Every good thing feels temporary
Every safe thing feels like luck

So don’t tell me I ain’t earned this rage
Don’t tell me I ain’t got that right
I survived the version of hell
Most people never see in life

I became this to stay alive
You became soft cause you forgot
What it took just to make it out
Of everything that we were not

⸻

Verse 4 — Positive Self

I didn’t forget — I carry it daily
I just don’t let it drive anymore
You think holding on keeps us safe
But it’s keeping us at war

Yeah, we were shaped by broken hands
But we were also reshaped by love
By people who didn’t have to stay
But stayed when things got rough

They gave us space to become more
Than what was done to us back then
You say rage is all we know
But that ain’t how the story ends

You ain’t weak for wanting peace
You ain’t fake for letting go
You ain’t betraying who we were
You’re protecting who we’ve grown


Chorus

Angry Self:
If I don’t fight, I disappear

Positive Self:
If you don’t stop, there’ll be nothing here

Both:
Me vs me, who survives tonight
The hand that heals or the hand that fights
Same damn soul, Same damn fight

Dark Country Soul, southern gothic, backing vocals, male, expressive