For Her And For Me

I walked into fire with quiet feet,


A storm behind eyes no one could meet.


The world kept turning, unaware
 While I broke in silence, trying to care.

She was my light, my blood, my breath,


So I stood between her and death.


Not with swords or cries of war,
 But with the choice to bear much more.

They will never know what it cost


The nights I drowned, the parts I lost.


But if she laughs, if she sleeps safe
 then I’d make the same choice every day.

I stitched my soul with threads of pain,
Learned to smile through the rain.


No medals hung, no songs were sung,


But I held the line, though I was young.

One day they’ll ask why I changed,


Why I seem quiet, distant, strange.


Let this poem speak what I could not:
 That I gave my all,she was worth the cost.

He took what was mine, without a word,


No scream escaped, I went unheard.


A child in shadow, torn and small,
I learned too soon how silence falls.

It wasn’t just me he tried to claim


His eyes turned toward her, just the same.
But I stood in front, I made him see
 that if he touched her, he’d go through me.

So I let the pain rot in my chest,


I let it fester, let it rest.


I wore the bruise, I took the scar,


To keep her whole, no matter how far.

I wish I’d said it back then,

loud


Told someone,

anyone,

broken,

proud.


But shame builds walls too thick to break,
And guilt’s a chain you can’t unmake.

Maybe they’d have saved me too,
If I had known what to do.


But I stayed quiet, played the part,
 And hid the rot inside my heart.

She laughs now,

safe,

untouched,

unaware,


Of how I burned to keep her there.
And if they ask why I don’t speak
 Let this poem be the voice I seek.

No justice came, no court, no name,
But I still carry all the blame.
Not because I was weak or wrong

But because I held her all along.