Nobody asked if I was okay, I was just a kid, had to find my own way. House on fire, I was left in the smoke, Tryna hold it in, but the weight made me choke. Told myself, be a man, don’t cry, But the mirror don’t lie, saw the pain in my eyes. They ran from the past, but I stayed in the scene, With a mop in my hand, I was left to clean. Mama left home three times, different man each trip, Left the house in flames, left my heart with a rip. Broken glass, burnin walls, love ain’t live here no more, Just a kid in the wreckage, pickin pain off the floor. Pops had a bottle, then a rope, then a blade, Tried to check out early, left me lost in the haze. Brother ran, sister ran, guess they knew the escape, But I stayed, swept the ashes, took the hurt on my face. I used to lie to myself, say I needed to be a man, Chest out, chin up, like a soldier in the sand. Used to lie to myself, sayin 'boy, you okay,' But nobody ever asked me, so I learned how to fake. I was left to clean, left to hold it all in, Had to grow up fast while they scattered in the wind. Took their pain, took their blame, made it mine, kept it deep, Turned the fire in my chest into lessons that I keep. Now I got my own, two daughters and a queen, I swore they’d never live the way that I seen. I build, I protect, I love, I provide, Cause I know what it’s like to have nothin inside. Mama told me love’s a cycle, guess she let it repeat, Three different men, three times she left me in the street. I watched walls collapse, learned to stand in the dust, Had to clean up the wreckage, ‘cause there was nobody but Me, on my knees, with a mop and a dream, Tryna scrub out the past, but it stains everything. Used to scream at the sky, askin God, why me? Now I see I was built to survive, not to flee. Had to learn how to fight, how to deal with the rage, How to talk to my demons, keep ‘em locked in a cage. How to be a man, when no man stuck around, How to raise up a home on the ruins of a town. I was left to clean, left to hold it all in, Had to grow up fast while they scattered in the wind. Took their pain, took their blame, made it mine, kept it deep, Turned the fire in my chest into lessons that I keep. Now I got my own, two daughters and a queen, I swore they’d never live the way that I seen. I build, I protect, I love, I provide, ‘Cause I know what it’s like to have nothin’ inside. I ain’t perfect, but I’m here, and I fight every day, To give ‘em what I never had, to show ‘em a way. Ain’t no locks on the door, ain’t no holes in the walls, Ain’t no silence in the dark, just my voice when they call. To the boy in the flames, I see you, I know, You ain’t burn, you ain’t break, you just needed to grow. And now look at me, man, I’m proof that we heal, Love ain’t gotta be pain, it can be somethin real.
