Runes in the Rent Money (version 2)

Intro

Coffee can rattling on the counter, dented crown

Momma's nail scratched marks in dollars, hid the sound

Verse

Momma kept a coffee can beneath the sink, lid rusted shut

Every Friday counted twice, then counted trust

Scratched a cross for church tithe, dot for light and gas

Circle round the rent bill so we'd never fall behind, never last

Called it superstition, but the numbers always matched

Said the symbols kept the wolves from knocking, kept the latch attached

I was seven, thought it magic, watched her thumbnail cut the code

Learned that money talks in silence when you speak the language owed

Some nights the can was empty, still she scratched it anyway

Said a mark on nothing still holds shape, still holds sway

Landlord came on Tuesdays, banged like thunder on the door

Momma slid an envelope with runes she'd drawn before

Never late, not once, though the balance ran on faith

Every crease a prayer she folded, every fold a debt she'd pay

Thirty years of marking dollars, never missed a single beat

Now I carve the same into my money 'fore I walk the street

Chorus

Runes in the rent money, marks that only we can read

A cross for what we owe and a circle for the need

Ain't magic, ain't a miracle, just faith kept right on time

Every scratch's a scripture, every bill's a sign

Verse

First check from the studio, I split it on the table

Circle for my momma's roof, still doing what I'm able

Cross for the corner church that fed us when the can was bare

Dot for little brother's light bill, kept the wolves from there

Engineer thought I was tripping, marking twenties with my nail

Told him this the only interest that ain't never gon' fail

Every stage I stood on, every crowd that learned my name

Still divide it like she taught me, still play by the same game

Bought her new can, stainless steel, she wouldn't let it go

Kept the rusted one for runes, said that's the one that knows

Fame came slow like kindling, caught the same way ash ignites

Marked my platinum plaque