Rust on the Rosary

Intro

Grandmama's rosary swinging off the rearview since '98

Beads gone amber, clasp gone orange, rust won't shake straight

Verse

She said hold the cross when the sirens start to hum

Told me faith weigh heavier than any pistol or gun

Fourth of July the paint peeled off Cassian Street

Church bell cracked but the block still moved to that beat

Kept them beads in my pocket next to bus tokens and lint

Rubbed the rust with my thumb like I could rub off the hint

That the Lord watching close as the corner store cam

Every sin get logged like a tab, every debt like a scam

Sixteen and already trading favors for silence

Learned the weight of a secret before I learned violence

Pawnshop window flickered gold under the sodium light

Mr. Aldo behind the glass said business is tight

Never thought I'd trade heaven for cash in a drawer

But the rent don't care what you praying for

Held them beads so tight the cross left a print in my palm

Wore it like a scar disguised as a psalm

Chorus

Rust on the rosary, still I pray

Faith don't rinse the stain away

Held it tighter than the debt could weigh

Rust on the rosary, still I pray

Verse

My brother caught a charge for a car he ain't even drive

Bail set at eight hundred, judge ain't blink twice

Mama crying in the kitchen, purse turned inside out

I remembered them beads, said I know a way about

Walked to Aldo's with my hood up, palms doing sweat

Slid the rosary cross the counter like a final bet

He gave me six hundred, said the gold plate thin

Told him it ain't about the gold, it's about my kin

Bailed him out by midnight, held him while he cried

Told him rust don't mean broken, it just mean it's been tried

Slept that night with my collar cold, no chain on my neck

Felt like I owed something bigger than a check

Three weeks working doubles at the warehouse on Fell

Saving up the difference, counting every single bell

Went back for them beads before the sixty days ran dry

Aldo said somebody paid it off, ain't say why

Chorus

Rust on the rosary, still I pray

Faith don't rinse the stain away

Held it tighter than the debt could weigh

Rust on the rosary, still I pray

Bridge

Turned out mama pawned her wedding band that same week

Redeemed my rosary quiet, never let it leak

Said some things you carry so the young ones don't gotta bend

Said faith ain't the object, it's who you protect till the end

Hung them beads back on the mirror, rust and all

Don't need it shining to remember when the walls

Almost caved in on us and we ain't fall

Outro

Rust on the rosary, still it swings

Every corner we survived stitched between the rings

Still I pray, still I pray, still I pray