Love should never feel like a battlefield
no winners, no losers
no keeping score just to prove what’s real

No defense, no offense
no walking on eggshells
no turning every moment
into something you gotta defend

The only thing we should be protecting
is us
like something gentle, something new
like love is something we don’t wanna lose

Not loaded
not ready to fire
not holding onto pain
like it’s something required

We get offended
that’s human, that’s real
but forgiveness should come quicker
than the need to keep receipts and records to reveal

No mental spreadsheets
no lists in your head
no saving old arguments
just to bring them back from the dead

Because that’s how it goes, 
one wrong move
and suddenly you’re pulling files
on everything I ever do

Turning memories into bullets
loading them up when you’re mad
waiting for the perfect moment
just to shoot it back

And now we’re not talking
we’re aiming
not loving
just blaming

Resentment is the slow burn
its the fire in the walls
you don’t see it at first
but eventually it takes it all

And ego?
Ego is the lock on the door
the thing that has you guarded
saying “I’m not getting hurt anymore”

But here’s the truth nobody says
when you build walls that strong
nothing can get out
but nothing gets in either

So you sit there saying
“I want love, I want something real”
but you built a space
where love can’t even breathe, can’t even heal

A stronghold 
guarded by the strongman 

Self protection
self preservation
sounds good out loud
but sometimes it’s just pain
with a better explanation

Sometimes it’s the past
still running the show
dressed up as “this just ain’t right”
when really, it’s wounds you haven’t let go

And here love is again
right in front of you
trying to grow, trying to live
trying to break through

But it’s suffocating
quickly fading
not because it wasn’t real
but because it wasn’t safe enough
to be patient