Whiting the quiet: A 3-Part Journey In My Life

P1 The walls shook with his voice fists like thunder in the night I was just a little kid trying to make it right Bottles smashed like dreams promises spilled on the floor Every night I scream in tears Daddy please no more Fear crept in the corners shadows danced on the wall I learned to hide my sorrow pretending I didn’t fall His lies were like poison seeping into my veins I grew up too fast carrying mental chains My mother’s eyes were rivers flowing with silent screams I held her hand at night sharing broken dreams The boy in me built walls to block the pain inside But even behind those walls I couldn’t hide The fear became my shadow it walked where I went Every laugh every joy felt like it was lent The rage in his eyes I carried in my mind But I fought to find a place where love could be kind Each bruise was a lesson each scar told a story I promised myself one day I’d say i'm not sorry Away from his shadow into my own light The boy I was still whispering “hold tight” I walk with the past it’s written in my bones But I’m more than those nights more than broken homes I carry the scars but they don’t define I’m learning to heal one breath at a time P2 I wake before the sun 'cause duty doesn’t sleep My back remembers every load my promises to keep My daughter’s laugh cuts through the haze like morning through the smoke Her voice became the prayer I never spoke, but always hoped. I build with tired hands I break to stand again There’s peace in repetition pain becomes a friend Bills stack like questions time’s a thief in disguise And I still chase the man I swore I’d recognize Some nights I stare at ceilings replaying every choice My heart’s a crowded room filled with too many voices One says “you made it” one says “you failed” I just keep walking between heaven and jail My reflection’s two stories that don’t agree One built from pride the other built from need I wear both faces depending on the light And sometimes even I lose track of which is right I’ve seen love heal and I’ve seen love demand I’ve held my woman close with work still on my hands I’ve lied “I’m fine” when I was torn apart 'Cause men like me don’t cry we learn to restart The streets still whisper the boy I used to be Says “you made it out but never got free” Maybe freedom’s not peace maybe it’s choice To stand in the storm and still raise your voice P3 I don’t run from ghosts no more, I let them walk beside We share the same silence, we made peace with time The echoes still speak, but they’ve lost their bite They fade in the dawn, when I step into light Forgiveness ain’t a prayer, it’s a daily war Between who I was and who I’m fighting for I used to beg the past (please let me go) Now I thank it softly for what it made me know My daughter’s eyes don’t see the fear I knew That’s how I win, every day, brand new I build what I never had from the ruins he left I breathe for the boy who had no breath My woman holds me like she reads my scars Not to pity the pain but to honor the parts That learned to love after breaking down That found a voice where I once drowned I still flinch at thunder but I face the rain Still carry old habits but not the same pain If peace is a road, I’m still on the climb But at least it’s mine, step by step, in time So when the night falls and the quiet returns I light a candle and watch it burn Not to mourn the boy but to bless the man Who learned to live with open hands I’ve learned that healing don’t mean to forget It’s walking through the fire without feeling regret Every scar’s a story, a mark of the fight Proof that I lived through the darkest night The mirror don’t scare me, not like before I see the cracks, but I love them more They tell me I’ve grown, they tell me I’ve tried They tell me I lived, even when I cried Some days I stumble, but I don’t break down I found calm in the chaos, peace in the sound I made friends with silence, turned pain into art Forgiving myself was the hardest part I see the past like rain, washing over my name It doesn’t drown me now, it just ain’t the same The ghosts still linger, but they don’t stay They nod their heads, then fade away I talk to my father, not with hate Just with the calm that time creates He couldn’t give love, but he taught me need I broke the circle, planted a seed Now when I hold my child, I hold the proof That pain can end under a different roof The walls that once echoed with cries and fear Now carry laughter, soft and clear I still hear the thunder in distant dreams But it’s softer now, it no longer screams I breathe with the dawn, I sleep through the night The boy inside me finally found light And if I fall again, I’ll rise the same 'Cause healing ain’t grace, it’s playing the game Of falling and rising, learning and mend Until the storm becomes a friend So if the night calls, I’ll answer slow Not to relive it, but to let it go I’ll light that candle again and again For the boy I was and the man I became