Weight of the Corner (Version 2)

Intro

Delway and Ninth, hydrant painted gold, chipped and cold

Same spot my father stood before the story got told

Verse

Streetlight flickers twice like it's clearing its throat

Bodega awning ripped, still the only shade we got

Mrs. Odom's window watch from the third floor sill

She counts who's out here, tells my mama who I'm with, still

Dominoes clack on a card table missing one leg

Old man Weatherby swears that table never begs

Kids cut through at three, book bags heavy as the debt

I nod, they nod back, ain't nobody forget

My father held this ground with a Newport and a nod

Told me corner's a promise, not a job

Used to think it's just concrete and a curb

Now I know it's a compass, keeps the whole block from a swerve

Every step I could take out is a step somebody loses

So I stay, count the cracks, watch how the sidewalk bruises

Watch the mail truck, watch the church bus, watch the hour

This concrete never asked me, but I gave it all my power

Chorus

This corner's heavy but I carry it fine

Somebody's gotta stand where the streetlight lines

I could walk, could run, could leave it all behind

But the weight of the corner's the weight that I signed

Verse

Tuesday, Devon's car wouldn't start, ten below

I stood out front two hours so his mama could go

Thursday some kid from Layton came through hot and loud

I talked him cold before the block became a crowd

Nobody pays me for it, ain't no title, no vest

Just a nod from Ms. Odom's window, that's the test

Bail money for my cousin, I had it in an hour

Corner's like a bank that only cashes trust and power

Little Danny asked me once when you gonna leave

I said the day this block don't need somebody, believe

Told him watch the hydrant, watch the way the light bends

That's how you know the day is starting, day it ends

Seen three storefronts turn to plywood and a prayer

Seen the same five faces holding down the air

This ain't loitering, this is logistics, this is love

Standing still so nobody falls when push comes to shove

Chorus

This corner's heavy but I carry it fine

Somebody's gotta stand where the streetlight lines

I could walk, could run, could leave it all behind

But the weight of the corner's the weight that I signed

Bridge

Got a call last spring, warehouse job two hours out

Steady check, no static, none of this back and forth doubt

Packed one bag, stood right here to say my goodbyes

Watched Ms. Odom's curtain move, watched the block through her eyes

Unpacked that bag by the hydrant before the sun went down

Some men leave a corner, some men are the corner in this town

I ain't chained here, I chose it, that's the difference in the weight

Freedom ain't the exit, sometimes freedom's what you make

Outro

Delway and Ninth, hydrant still painted gold

Same spot, new sneakers, but the promise never gets old

When my knees give out somebody else gon' learn to stand

Till then this corner's heavy, but it's steady in my hand