A menace, I was, the duration of my life. Unsure of what was next, who was next, or where I was headed next. The only for-sure shit in my world was my paper and my people. The ice around my heart was still intact, never being penetrated or as much as tapped. Amazed I was the day I encountered you. The perfect analogy for your government, you were cold, Mommas. The impression you left on me heated me to the core, thawing the ice around that red vessel, awakening it from hibernation. A man on a mission, I became the minute I decided that it was you I wanted to myself, promising to never share you with anyone else. The way you came into my world and brought all your beauty with you gave me little room for error. You made me want to be better. You made me want to be the nigga that woke up each day just to love you again. You made me want to choose you over and over and over. And I did. A mess, I was discovering the world we created with one another had been infiltrated. Discovering I was no longer invincible and you were touchable flipped a switch so deep in my dome that I didn’t think it was reachable. In the midst of it all, a tear formed, disrupting our bond. Mommas, I’ll spend the rest of my days repairing it—but only after the threat has been neutralized.