Ravens Keep the Count (version 2)

Intro

Ash settles on the mattress where the radiator dies

Three degrees and counting, but the rent stays on time

Mama's double shift paid the electric last month

Now she's counting pills and I'm counting what I lost

Verse

Fourteen, in the basement sorting copper wire scraps

Superintendent paid me cash, no paperwork, no tax

Fingers split from stripping, built calluses like skin

Learned the difference between earning and the hunger deep within

Every dollar folded neat, slipped under Mama's door

While she slept on broken springs, wondering what for

The neighborhood was shrinking, corner stores boarded up

But the work kept coming, kept the light bulb from going dark

Winter came with no heat, so we wore our coats to bed

Shared one quilt between us, and I thanked God we weren't dead

Saw the fellas on the block, their pockets heavy, chains bright

But I'd seen their mothers' faces when the phone rang late at night

So I kept the basement cold, kept my hands bent and raw

Kept my eyes on what was real, not what the streets saw

Chorus

Ravens keep the count, they don't miss a soul

Every scarred hand buying bread and coal

Ravens keep the count, they don't miss a soul

Every scarred hand buying bread and coal

Verse

Twenty-two, I'm on the warehouse crew, loading pallets till the dawn

Supervisor takes his cut, says that's how the system's drawn

But I'm reading books at lunch, building something in my mind

While the others split their paychecks on the poison and the wine

The city's full of ghosts, men who broke before they bent

Traded their own futures for a moment's rent

I watched my uncle fade, needle in his vein

Said the world don't owe you nothing but the suffering and pain

So I worked the double shifts, saved the triple overtime

Kept my promise to Mama, kept my conscience clean and fine

Now she rests without the worry, and that's worth more than gold

Every scar upon my knuckles is the story that I've told

Verse

Thirty now, I'm running crews, but I remember every name

Of the ones who didn't make it past the winter's weight and claim

I hire the ones the system threw away

Give them hours, give them purpose, give them something real to say

The ravens know the difference between breaking and the bend

They mark the ones who stayed intact and honor at the end

We don't speak in promises, just in what we do

Show the young ones what it means to keep yourself brand new

Mama's got her medicine, her apartment, and her peace

And I'm building something lasting, watch the legacy increase

Chorus

Ravens keep the count, they don't miss a soul

Every scarred hand buying bread and coal

Ravens keep the count, they don't miss a soul

Every scarred hand buying bread and coal

Outro

The ash still settles on the city where I'm from

But the lights stay on now, and the work still gets done

Ravens keep the count, they mark what you're made of

Every hand that holds the line gets its name in the sky above