Momma,
Had a lot on my chest, couldn't sleep, couldn't rest,
Carried pain like a chain, still I called it a test.
Buried storms in my lungs, kept my fear repressed,
Till I learned how to breathe and let God do the rest.
I ain't depressed.
God hear me.
I was stretched, not defeated,
Pressure made diamonds, I was getting completed.
Hood yoga, deep breaths, had my spirit reset,
Turned stress into strength and my losses to assets.
I studied the pattern, not the woman alone,
How I built her a palace while neglecting my home.
How I watered dead gardens hoping flowers had grown,
When the truth was the roots were already gone.
Every dream that we touched turned dust in the wind,
Every plan fell apart before it could begin.
Every bridge that I built got burned at the end,
Had me praying for peace while pretending to mend.
It was real from the start.
That's the part that was rough.
I ain't changing the history or saying it was fluff.
What we had was authentic,
I just gave way too much,
And what started as love slowly loosened its touch.
The pain gone.
Let the record show facts.
Pain packed a bag and never doubled back.
But disrespect?
Yeah, that's a different track.
Not a knife in my heart,
Just a scar on the map.
Just a mark on my soul where
I learned what I lacked.
So I got myself back.
Reclaimed my joy.
Not the rented type.
Not the joy that depends on a text at night.
Not the joy that disappears when somebody doesn't write.
My joy got ownership.
Deed and rights.
Now my smile shine bright and my future look bright.
Then I reclaimed my worth.
Had to break that curse.
Stopped asking broke hearts what my value was worth.
Stopped making myself small so another could work.
Stopped putting everybody else first.
My worth was never on trial,
Only my vision.
I was seeking permission from people lost in position.
Now I move with precision, no approval submission,
Just faith in the man staring back from reflection.
Then I reclaimed my identity too.
Found my voice.
Found my lane.
Found the truth.
Found the fire I had before I entered the confusion.
Before I traded intuition for illusion.
I remembered my name.
Who I am.
What's mine.
Stopped measuring my life by somebody else's decline.
Stopped calling red flags "maybe it'll be fine."
Now the signs read clear every time.
If they need a villain,
Then give me the role.
Every hero gets tested when protecting his soul.
People hate your boundaries when they're losing control.
Funny how your healing makes old critics patrol.
Every time I thought of her,
Something went left.
Bad signal.
Bad energy.
Weight on my chest.
Deals froze.
Days slowed.
Nothing felt blessed.
Like her memory brought storms to every address.
Maybe bad luck.
Maybe God's protection.
Maybe every closed door was a divine redirection.
Cause every road with her led away from progression,
Now I'm choosing myself and that's the lesson.
I'm headed back to Atlanta.
Back where I belong.
Back to roads that knew my steps before everything went wrong.
Back to rebuilding foundations stronger than before,
Back to hearing my spirit instead of fighting a war.
Packing boxes.
Packing lessons.
Packing growth.
Leaving old shoes behind with no soul in the soles.
Too many miles in that pain, too many potholes,
But every scar became part of the whole.
I laugh now.
Cause I see it all clear.
Saw red flags waving nearly every year.
Still made the turn thinking love would appear.
Now hindsight got jokes and I'm cracking up here.
Momma,
I'm going scorched earth.
Not angry.
Just through.
Deleting pictures, deleting texts, deleting memories too.
Not deleting the lesson, just removing the glue.
I'm done tying my future to what already flew.
Every picture a museum of a version gone cold.
Every screenshot a chapter that no longer holds.
Every image a story that has already been told.
I'm making room for new blessings by letting go of the old.
No souvenirs.
No archives.
No hidden files.
No late-night revisits of familiar trials.
No running in circles, repeating old miles.
I'm choosing peace over nostalgia this time.
And Momma,
I hope we never cross paths.
Not from hate.
Not revenge.
Not spite.
Some people leave your life and that's exactly right.
Some distances are blessings,
some goodbyes bring light.
If I see her name,
I'm scrolling ahead.
If I see her face,
That chapter is dead.
No reopening books I already read,
No renting old spaces inside of my head.
Maybe this the last thought of her.
Last verse.
Last rhyme.
Last page.
Last word.
Atlanta in the windshield.
Past in the blur.
God got my next chapter and my vision's assured.
My poems don't always rhyme,
But tonight they might.
Cause life got rhythm when your spirit gets right.
Pain was the teacher but joy brought the light.
Now I'm walking with purpose, head high in the night.
Still standing.
Still breathing.
Still blessed.
Still free.
No weight on my chest.
Just the best of me.
No looking behind.
No requests.
No regrets.
Just me—
Finally becoming
Who I was before we met.