Still Counting Ceiling Tiles (version 2)

Intro

Streetlight flicker, four a.m. hum

Same cracked ceiling, same countdown

Nine, eleven, sixteen tiles

Still counting, still awake, still mine

Verse

Radiator coughing static through the wall

Neighbor's TV bleeding through at ungodly hours

City never sleeps but neither do I, y'all

Watching shadows dance from passing cars

Rent's due Friday, pockets holding lint and pride

Momma's voice on voicemail asking am I fine

I lie through my teeth like it's a certified skill

Counting cracks in plaster just to kill the time

Corner store on Elmwood closing out at three

Bought a coffee black just to keep my company

Sat there with my hoodie, watched the traffic thin

Thinking 'bout the man I used to be, again

Sixteen tiles above me, sixteen bars in me

Every scar's a story that the ceiling's heard from me

Grandma used to say the night reveals the truth

I'm still up here proving that the dark don't own my youth

Chorus

Still counting ceiling tiles, still holding on

City lights outside my window till the dawn

Tired but I'm breathing, tired but I'm strong

Still counting ceiling tiles till the night is gone

Verse

Block's quiet now except the sirens passing through

Red and blue reflections dancing off my shoes

Used to chase that noise, now I let it chase the truth

Every hour that I'm up here, I'm collecting dues

Phone lit up with numbers that don't mean me well

Old friends turned to strangers, stories I don't tell

Kept my circle tight like a fist around a prayer

Learned the ones who clap the loudest rarely stick around there

Bodega cat named Duke, he don't judge my face

Watch him stretch and yawn while I'm stretching out my faith

Building's got a hum like it's breathing with me too

Concrete lullaby for a mind that's overdue

Rest but never resting, that's the city's curse

Every dream deferred just makes the hunger worse

So I write these bars until the sunlight breaks the black

Turn the silence golden, never taking silence back

Chorus

Still counting ceiling tiles, still holding on

City lights outside my window till the dawn

Tired but I'm breathing, tired but I'm strong

Still counting ceiling tiles till the night is gone

Bridge

Maybe morning's closer than my worry lets me see

Maybe every tile's a page in my own history

The city taught me patience wrapped in concrete skin

I've been losing hours, finding who I've been

Outro

Sixteen tiles turn to sunrise through the blinds

Same room, different man this time

Still counting, but I'm counting blessings now

Still standing, city taught me how