The Test Of Their Return

There will be temptations to go back again To answer late night messages of pain To revisit spaces that once made you feel needed But you'll feel that pull and smile, completely freed Not because you want it but you've outgrown the game No longer need to be needed, not playing for fame You simply are - complete, present, and whole From that place you give without selling your soul You love but not for validation's prize You show up but not to be someone's disguise The most dangerous thing to those who used your weakness Is a man who's found his strength in inner bleakness They'll call you hard but feel the boundary you've made See the end of access to the price you've paid What they hear isn't silence, it's the sound so clear Of a man who remembered his worth was never here In their hands, their approval, their fickle embrace You've found your home in your own sacred space Never beg, you were never meant to crawl For something sacred, you were meant to stand tall The man who changes no longer waits to be chosen He builds, leads, creates with heart unfrozen Freedom isn't escape, it's presence earned Standing in your truth with lessons learned The prison was never physical or real It was mental chains that you've learned to heal