It is not that you hate me

You hate the truth I speak

You turn away before it lands

Because you know it cuts too deep

I do not claim perfection

I miss the mark sometimes

But I have never stopped reaching

For what is honest and true

You know I held the line for us

Through every breaking dawn

Loving you was never too much

And staying was never wrong

Why must you join the crowd

And make me your enemy

When we once stood through the same fire

With no need to choose a side

We stood back to back like warriors

When the whole world came apart

I trusted you beside me

With the blind side of my heart

You loved me like a lifeline

But they never let you stand with me

Peace with them meant war with me

And I know what that had to be

You were taught to stand against me when you were young, and as much as you love me, that cannot be undone

I know the love was real

But it was taught to bow

You could carry me inside you

But not say my name out loud

So I understand the leaving

I understand the door

I understand survival

When to stay demands more

But you did not have to burn me

Just to prove you had to go

You did not need to wound me

And make your leaving so cold

You built a case from ashes

Then called the smoke the proof

Like conflict gave permission

To justify what you chose

We stood back to back like warriors

Against the teeth of life

I knew your steps behind me

Blood depends on blood in this fight

But something old was planted

Under everything we won

A seed that kept on fracturing

What love had made as one

You were taught to stand against me when you were young, and as much as you love me, that cannot be undone

I will wish you love and success, while you wish me a lonely death.

I will stay away now

That is what you chose

Not because my love is gone

It is that hate does not belong

When hatred takes your voice

Love disappears from view

And I cannot keep standing

Where your pain comes breaking through

Lay down your hate

Forget my name

Go live the life you need

I will cheer you from a distance

If that is where I have to be

If you are healthy

If you are loved

If your heart can finally rest

Then I can live with silence

And carry what is left

But do not aim your rage at me

And call that moving on

Do not try to kill the trunk

To prove the branch is gone

We stood back to back like warriors

And I will not curse those days

Even under all the wreckage

No regret for the love I gave

I have let go of needing peace

With the man you are today

But the door is not closed

Truth can lead the way

Come back as an equal man

With honesty in your hands

No crowd to hide behind you

Open hearts man to man

I can love you without limit

But trust has sacred walls

You were taught to stand against me when you were young, and as much as you love me, that cannot be undone

I will wish you love and success, while you wish me a lonely death.

End your hate with me

Or forget me and be free

Live the life you needed

I will bless it quietly

But do not come as fire

Do not come as war

Only truth can cross this line

And nothing less can endure