Beside You

Come sit a minute, kid

I’ve got a few things I learned late

Keep some cash in the lining of your winter coat

Know the difference between a promise and a note

If a room makes you smaller, you don’t have to stay

You can thank them for the lesson, then walk away

Call your mother when the silence gets too loud

Eat before you drive, don’t follow every crowd

The world will praise the mask that never makes a sound

But your honest face is worth more than the crown

I won’t pretend I always chose the better road

I’ve carried old mistakes like stones inside my coat

So if I warn you hard, it’s fear beneath the tone

I’m learning how to guide you without holding the throne

You are not the sum of the hands that let you down

Not the names they gave you, not the lost-and-found

When the door won’t open, build another way

And if your voice starts shaking, say it anyway

I’ll be in the doorway, but I won’t block the sky

You were never meant to live the life I left behind

Take the good I give you, leave the rest with me

Go become the woman you already came to be

Choose friends who tell the truth before the rumor spreads

Who can sit beside your sorrow without fixing it instead

Love should feel like room to breathe, not a test you have to pass

No one gets to call it care while they’re breaking all your glass

Read the fine print, lock the windows, trust your gut

A polished smile can hide a blade beneath the cut

But don’t let every danger turn your heart to stone

Keep a little softness; that’s a strength of its own

Save your private victories, you don’t owe the crowd

Some flowers grow in silence, underground and proud

And when you miss the mark, don’t make a home in shame

Clean the wound, learn the truth, and try again

You are not the sum of the hands that let you down

Not the names they gave you, not the lost-and-found

When the door won’t open, build another way

And if your voice starts shaking, say it anyway

I’ll be in the doorway, but I won’t block the sky

You were never meant to live the life I left behind

Take the good I give you, leave the rest with me

Go become the woman you already came to be

One day you’ll hear my voice inside your own

Not as a chain, just a compass pointing home

If I taught you fear, unlearn it in the sun

If I taught you courage, pass it when you’re done

You are not the sum of the hands that let you down

You can redraw the map, you can turn this around

When the door won’t open, build another way

And if your voice starts shaking, say it anyway

I’ll be in the doorway, learning how to let you fly

Proud enough to loosen every knot I tied

Take the good I give you, leave the rest with me

Go become the woman you already came to be

I’m still here

Not ahead of you

Not above you

Beside you