Scars in Denomination (version 2)

Intro

Bell above Renzo's door rings twice, not once

Chair three still spins if you push it just right

Verse

First time I sat that leather, I was seven, feet not touching ground

Renzo tied the cape too loose, said hold still, don't make a sound

Mirror had a crack ran diagonal like a scar of its own

Chalk marks on the frame, a tally nobody's shown

He said every mark on skin got a value, kid, like cash

Dime scar's from falling, quarter's from a clash

Half dollar's when you bled for somebody wasn't blood

Dollar bill's the one you don't talk about, just a nod

My uncle Theo's got a scar shaped like a subway map

Said it cost him a friendship and a Tuesday and a nap

He traded testimony for a shorter bid downtown

Wore that scar to church now, wore it like a crown

I asked him was it worth it, he just clipped my hairline clean

Said worth ain't the question when you're seventeen

Some scars you spend right off, some you hold like a bond

Learned that in the chair before I knew a bank exists beyond

Hook

Scars in denomination, that's the only wealth I own

Every mark's got a story, every story's got a tone

Some cost silence, some cost blood, some just cost a phone call home

Scars in denomination, that's the currency I've grown

Verse

Sixteen now, got my own mark, quarter-sized, above the brow

Cost me a friend named Dario who I don't see now

He asked me hold the bag while he ran from Ninth Street law

I held it, held my breath, held a truth I never saw

Story goes he skated clean, story goes I took the weight

Six months county, came back different, came back straight-faced

Renzo didn't ask what happened, just refilled my chair

Said that's a dollar scar right there, spend it with some care

I started keeping tally too, chalk marks on my own wall

Every debt I paid in silence, every time I didn't fall

Learned the difference between a scar that makes you hard

And one that makes you careful, one that stands you guard

Dario came back once, tried to buy back what he lost

I told him some denominations don't convert, that's the cost

He left with his head down, I ain't chase him, ain't forgive quick

Some accounts stay open, that's arithmetic

Hook

Scars in denomination, that's the only wealth I own

Every mark's got a story, every story's got a tone

Some cost silence, some cost blood, some just cost a phone call home

Scars in denomination, that's the currency I've grown

Bridge

Now it's my chair, my cape, my hand steady on the blade

Got a kid named Marcus asking why the old men st