Scars We Don't Show

Intro

Fourth floor walk-up, radiator ticking like a clock

I keep the sleeve down so the worry doesn't talk

Verse

Fourth-floor circuit box hums like it's counting my hours

Night shift at the depot, pallets stacked in towers

Forklift caught my wrist at three, bone popped like a knuckle

Wrapped it in a bandana, kept the cart from buckle

Didn't file the paper, cause the paper cuts the pay

Sister's tuition due, can't afford a sick day

Foreman asked me "you good," I said "never better"

Smiled through the throb like I'm reading a letter

Dario saw the wince, slid me two aspirin

Said "man, take the seat," I said "nah, I'm still standing"

Mama thinks I'm fine, tells the church I'm blessed

Don't tell her the brace I hide beneath my chest

Scar on my palm from the box cutter slip

Scar on my pride from the raise that never shipped

Every mark's a receipt for a bill I already paid

Kept walking through the pain so the family stayed made

Hook

Scars we don't show, but they carry the weight

Stitched in the sleeve so the smile don't break

Nobody sees what the shoulder still holds

Scars we don't show, but they still keep us whole

Verse

Grew up watching Pop limp off a warehouse floor

Told Mama "just a strain," walked in through the door

Learned the lesson early, the hurt stays a secret

Cause the block don't stop for a man who can't keep it

Check-cashing line on Friday, everybody counting cash

Nobody counting bruises underneath the coat and the sash

Laundromat downstairs got a dryer that won't spin

Fixed it with a coat hanger, still it cost me some skin

Fire escape rusted, caught my calf on the rail

Climbed it anyway to bring Dario his mail

He lost his job that winter, pride cracked like the ice

I covered half his rent, ain't ask him twice

Now he's back on his feet, sends me soup when I'm sick

Never talks about the debt, just the love that stuck

That's the currency out here, ain't printed, ain't seen

Scars for collateral, keeping the promise clean

Hook

Scars we don't