Corner Store Prophet (version 2)

Intro

Bell above the door don't ring, it hums

Same four cracks in the tile since I was young

Milk crate throne, cigarette haze for a halo

I ain't ask for this, but the block made it so

Verse

Sixteen and I was stealing chips, hood low

Now I'm forty behind glass, watched the whole block grow

Kids come in asking what the streets gon' cost

Ring 'em up a soda, tell 'em what I already lost

Man named Reggie ask me should he take the job upstate

I sold him a phone card, told him don't be late

Told him leave tonight before the doubt gets loud

Told him pride is heavy, don't wear it like a shroud

Marcus' mama come in crying, rent past due

I slide her coffee free, tell her I got you

Write her name in chalk beside the cooler door

Erase it when she pays me, never keep the score

Teenager pulled a blade once, I ain't even flinch

Told him put it back before it costs an inch

He put it back, bought gum, ain't never came back wrong

That's the only sermon this whole corner ever known

Hook

No robe, no pulpit, just linoleum and light

Half the block confessing what they can't say right

I ain't got the answers, only got the time

Corner store prophet, same shift every time

Verse

I could've left in '09 when the offer came through

Cousin had a spot downstate, said the rent was cheaper too

But who gon' watch the counter when the old man got the shakes

Who gon' catch the kids before the first mistake

Got a scar above my eye from a Tuesday gone loud

Kept the store open anyway, wiped the blood off the towel

Somebody asked me why I stayed when I could've been gone

I told 'em loyalty ain't a feeling, it's a job you clock on

Sharpie names on the wall behind the register still

Half of them upstate now, half of them chilling still

I keep the tally in my head, not the ledger book

Every face that walked through here, I remember how they look

Nephew asked me for the truth about the man he lost

I told him love him anyway, don't measure by the cost

That's the only prophecy this corner ever gave

Stay soft where it matters, stay hard where it save

Hook

No robe, no pulpit, just linoleum and light

Half the block confessing what they can't say right

I ain't got the answers, only got the time

Corner store prophet, same shift every time

Bridge

Some nights I lock the gate and sit alone with the hum

Wonder who's gon' inherit this when my knees finally numb

I ain't no saint, I just outlasted the noise

Made peace with the corner before it made peace with the boys

Nephew's sixteen now, sweeping up after close

I watch him watch the block the way I used to, I suppose

One day this counter's his, this light, this same low hum

Prophet ain't a title, it's whoever stays and comes

Outro

Bell above the door still hums, still low

Same four cracks in the tile, same story to grow

I ain't leaving till the lights go dark for good

Corner store prophet, same spot, understood