Ledger of Lost Blocks (Version 2)

Intro

Corner store shutter, three a.m. hum

Young Ledger keep the count, never carry the sum wrong

This the book of the blocks, every name got a page

Loyalty the only interest that don't age

Verse

Copper pipes and porch lights, Cedar and Vine

Nine of us split one umbrella in the rain that time

Marcus had the map, I had the matches lit

Torch through the alley when the streetlamp quit

Ledger in my hoodie pocket, corners dog-eared

Every debt in pencil so the truth stay clear

Kept a tally on the wall behind the water heater

Who fed who when the fridge was empty, who the reader

Taught the young ones letters when the schools gave up

Passed the same coat down through three winters, still holds up

I don't forget who rode when the sirens came

Whose mama's rent got paid without a name

Block got torn down, they put condos where we slept

Still got the crew group chat, still keep the debt

Not a dollar debt, a "you got me" debt

Ledger of lost blocks, but the loyalty ain't left

Chorus

I keep a ledger of lost blocks

Every name that stood when the whole world knocked

Column one is love, column two is trust

Balance never zero long as we still us

Verse

Deja ran numbers, kept the crew paid straight

Tariq drove the getaway from every bad break

Lost him to a sickness, not a bullet, not a badge

Funeral in July, whole block wore his colors

Wrote his name in the front page, ink still fresh

Every entry after that I sign with his address

Crew scattered — Detroit, Charlotte, one upstate

Still send a line each Sunday just to check the weight

"You good?" three letters carry a whole ledger's worth

Loyalty compound interest, paid it since our birth

I could've flipped the block, sold the story sweet

Kept the receipts instead, kept the truth complete

See these plaques on my wall ain't for the flexing

They for the ones who showed when the streets got testing

Every column balanced by a hand that held mine

Ledger of lost blocks — but we still on time

Chorus

I keep a ledger of lost blocks

Every name that stood when the whole world knocked

Column one is love, column two is trust

Balance never zero long as we still us

Bridge

Some entries closed for good, some still open wide

New kid on the corner, I write him inside

Not blood, but he blood now, that's how the ledger reads

Loyalty the only currency that plants the seed

Ain't about the come-up, it's about who came

Stood in the same doorway, called each other's name

Outro

Close the book tonight, but the count still true

Every block I lost, I still owe it to

Young Ledger, steady hand, never miscounts

This the only wealth that really, truly counts