3 Chances to Love Me

The first time, I believed your words,

Every promise, every lie.

I gave you parts of me untouched,

You let them slowly die.

I called your distance fear,

Your silence something I could heal.

I loved you through the warning signs,

Convinced myself it all was real.

I gave you what I guarded most,

And still you let me go.

You had three chances to love me,

Three chances to choose my heart.

Three times I stood beside you

While you tore my faith apart.

I gave you more than forgiveness,

More than you ever deserved.

Three chances to love me—

You wasted every one.

The second time, I knew the scars,

Still I opened up the door.

You swore that you had changed this time,

I wanted nothing more.

So I made myself much smaller

Just to fit inside your world,

While every piece I lost for you

Became a lesson slowly learned.

I kept setting myself on fire

Just to keep you warm.

You had three chances to love me,

Three chances to choose my heart.

Three times I stood beside you

While you tore my faith apart.

I gave you more than forgiveness,

More than you ever deserved.

Three chances to love me—

You wasted every one.

The third time, I was different.

I knew this was goodbye.

I placed my heart before you

For one final time.

And you chose yourself again

Like you always used to do.

But this time I didn’t shatter—

I finally saw the truth.

I wasn’t hard to love.

You just never learned how.

You had three chances to love me,

And you wasted every one.

Now you’re standing in the ashes

Of everything you could have won.

You thought I’d always be waiting,

That I’d never close the door—

But the woman who kept choosing you

Doesn’t live here anymore.

You had three chances to love me,

Now I finally choose myself.

Every wound you left behind

Became a strength you’ll never break.

Someday when the silence finds you,

You’ll remember what you lost.

You didn’t lose me when I left.

You lost me

every time

I gave you a chance

to love me.