Concrete Halo (version 3)

Intro

Streetlamp at Kessler and Vine, buzzes like a hive

Cracked circle of light on the concrete, that's mine

Been standing under it since twenty-oh-five

Some call it a corner, I call it a shrine

Verse

Nine-thirty bell rings, the school doors let 'em loose

Backpacks half zipped, sneakers scuffed, no excuse

I catch the small ones drifting toward the liquor store line

Pull 'em back with a whistle, tell 'em not this time

Marcus tried to run product when he was thirteen

Traded him a job sweeping Duke's for the same routine

Paid him in quarters and a Sunday plate of rice

Cheaper than a coffin, cheaper than the price

My own mama begged me, said baby get up out

Cousin got a couch in Fairview, said just move about

But who gon stand under the halo when I'm gone

Who gon catch the ones about to step on the lawn

Every night same post, same jacket, same stare

Counting kids like sheep just to keep the count fair

Scraped my knuckles once pulling Danny off a fight

Kept the scab like a medal, wore it like a stripe

Chorus

Concrete halo, cracked but it still shine

Keep the block lit up on Kessler and Vine

Ain't no wings on my back, just a streetlamp glow

Stayed for the ones who ain't got nowhere to go

Verse

Ten years running, seen three mayors come and lie

Same potholes, same promises, same paper signs

Rico came home from upstate, four years thin

Asked to sling under my light, said let me back in

I said no, told him the halo don't cover that weight

He called me soft, walked off mad, slammed the gate

Two weeks later heard he caught a case on Rell

Different corner, different light, same old spell

I carry that like a stone I never asked to hold

Wonder if my no was mercy or if it was cold

Little Tasha's reading now, third grade, top of her class

Says she wants my job when she grows, guarding the path

I laugh but my chest gets tight like a fist

Cause this ain't no legacy I meant to exist

Streetlamp flickered last Tuesday, city sent a repair truck

I stood there and prayed they wouldn't take my luck

Chorus

Concrete halo, cracked but it still shine

Keep the block lit up on Kessler and Vine

Ain't no wings on my back, just a streetlamp glow

Stayed for the ones who ain't got nowhere to go

Bridge

Twenty years old when I first stood post, thirty now, still don't roam

Never got the house, never got the phone that rings from home away

Some say I wasted a life holding up a lam