Stop praising my strength.
l've been fighting and forgiving for so long it's exhausting, not empowering!
I've defended and stood alongside the very same people who've broken me.
My loyalty, at times has felt like the punchline.
You may see someone resilient; brave, even.
But you don't know how afraid I've been, how alone l've felt.
If there's a warrior inside me, it weeps. When no one was looking, I shook, in ways that are far from heroic.
l'm torn in two - the half of me that's proud, fights for things the other half believes make me a fool. It's so hard to stay.
Yet, I don't want to leave.
I didn't walk away doesn't mean it doesn't hurt to rebuild bridges I never would've burned. Im still sewing closed the wounds of painful lessons they had to learn.
I search for encouragement in places with bullet holes shot through it
The same place I kept my pride is the place they left their knife.
l'm sorry, but I'm still bleeding,
and none of this feels like strength to me.