Balance Carried Forward

Verse

Momma sent me with a list folded in a fist,

store on the corner where the milk crate was a bench to sit.

Mr. Odell kept a book behind the register drawer,

pencil marks for bread and eggs when the check ain't come before.

He'd say pay me when you can, ain't no interest on the wait,

just don't let your momma's pride turn a debt into a hate.

Watched him erase numbers slow with the eraser's black dust,

never asked why we owed him, just held onto that trust.

Pre-Chorus

How you settle what a stranger gave for free,

when the only thing you're holding is a memory?

Chorus

Balance carried forward, page after page,

every debt we never paid still keeping the same wage.

Balance carried forward, ink turned to dust,

the number never zeroes out, it just gets passed to us.

Verse

Store closed in oh-nine, glass boarded, sign came down,

Mr. Odell six feet under on the north side of town.

I keep my own ledger now, kitchen table, coffee stain,

track who I lend a twenty to and who pays it back again.

Found his old book in a shoebox his daughter couldn't sell,

my family name still owed him twelve-forty, pencil tell.

Drove it to her doorstep, handed her the cash in hand,

she said keep it, that's already balanced, you don't understand.

Pre-Chorus

How you settle what a stranger gave for free,

when the only thing you're holding is a memory?

Chorus

Balance carried forward, page after page,

every debt we never paid still keeping the same wage.

Balance carried forward, ink turned to dust,

the number never zeroes out, it just gets passed to us.

Bridge

Turns out some debts ain't measured in the dollar sign,

they measured in the showing up, the standing in the line.

I run my numbers different now, I write it in the margin,

every kid I front today's a page I'm slow enlarging.

Chorus

Balance carried forward, page after page,

every debt we never paid still keeping the same wage.

Balance carried forward, ink turned to dust,

the number never zeroes out, it just gets passed to us.