It ends with me

I carried the weight before you could see it

Held the line when the sky came down

Every wall that stood in your way

I let it break against my ground

I learned the hard lessons early

So you wouldn’t have to bleed them out

I stood in the fire long enough

To turn the fear into drought

⸻

I walk a road that feels open

Like it was meant for my feet

I don’t carry fear in my pockets

I don’t brace when I breathe

There’s a calm in my nervous system

Like safety was stitched into me

I didn’t earn it by suffering

It was handed down quietly

⸻

Some call it strength

Some call it grace

We call it love

Changing shape

⸻

I broke down the mountains

So you don’t climb them in chains

Cleared the ground beneath your feet

So you don’t inherit the pain

Because you were there

I get to live light

I don’t confuse survival

With earning my life

⸻

You don’t owe the past your body

You don’t owe pain your name

I did the breaking

So you could walk untamed

⸻

You took the weight before it reached me

You stood where it stopped

I didn’t have to be hardened

To know how to be solid

⸻

Mother:

If you ever feel the echo

Daughter:

Of battles I never knew

Mother:

Remember—

Daughter:

They weren’t meant for me

Mother:

I carried them

Daughter:

You ended them

Together (build):

And what you ended

Became my beginning

⸻

I broke down the mountains

You get to walk free

You don’t owe your life to survival

It ends with me

Because you were there

I live unafraid

I don’t owe my future

To debts already paid

⸻

Mother:

Walk light.

Daughter:

Walk strong.

Together:

The ground is clear

And we both belong.