[Verse 1] She didn't leave bruises where people could see them She left them where nobody believed they existed A mother's hands can still become a weapon A grandmother's love can still come with a sentence She taught me silence before she taught me speech Made guilt feel like a lesson I was meant to keep And when I finally said, this isn't love They looked at her and said, but she's your mother She's tired, she's hurting, she's old enough to know better She's been through so much, you should understand her Funny how every reason found a way to make me wrong Funny how protecting her meant telling me to move on [Chorus] She's your mother, she's your grandmother She's a woman, how could she hurt you? So you dress the violence up as love and call the damage something I should forget She put her hands where they didn't belong Then you told me I was cruel for saying it was wrong You made her womanhood a fucking shield and made my survival something I should conceal [Verse 2] She broke bones and she broke me She knew exactly where the soft parts would be A whisper, a threat, a door slammed shut A family secret dressed up as that's just the way she is And when she crossed a line she couldn't uncross You counted all the things she'd done for me As if motherhood could pay a debt As if blood could turn a crime into regret You said she loves you in her own way What a beautiful sentence for a terrible thing to say Because if that's what love is supposed to be Then tell me what the hell was left of me [Chorus] She's your mother, don't make her cry She's your grandmother, don't ruin her life She's a woman, she couldn't mean it like that And somehow every sentence ends with me taking it back She's your mother, she's your grandmother She's a woman, how could she hurt you? So you dress the violence up as love and call the damage something I should forget She put her hands where they didn't belong Then you told me I was cruel for saying it was wrong You made her womanhood a fucking shield and made my survival something I should conceal [Bridge] You want me to forgive her because she's family You want me to forgive her because she's a mother You want me to forgive her because she's a grandmother You want me to forgive her because women are supposed to nurture Where was that woman when she was hurting me? Where was the mother when I was begging her to stop? Where was the grandmother when I learned to be afraid of hands? Don't tell me she loved me I know she loved me That's the fucking point [Outro] You can love someone and still abuse them You can be a mother and still be dangerous You can be a grandmother and still leave scars You can be a woman and still do unforivable things And I can be your daughter and tell the truth anyway She's your mother, she's your grandmother She's the woman you swear could never hurt you But I was there, I remember the hands I remember the silence, I remember who knew I remember who looked away You called it complicated, you called it family You called it love You called it something I should forgive I call it what it was Don't ask me to make peace with it Don't ask me to turn pain into grace Don't ask me to forgive just because forgiveness makes you comfortable You wanted me healed when what you really wanted was for me to stop remembering So keep your excuses, keep your absolution Keep your beautiful stories about beautiful women You can call it anger, I'll call it evidence
