Sackcloth Ledger

Intro

Found the book beneath the floorboard, dust like flour on my hands

Every name in her handwriting, every debt a grain of sand

Sackcloth cover, wax seal cracked, the ink gone brown as tea

Grandmother kept her mercy where the bank could never see

Verse

Winter of forty-one, the coal ran short on Vine Street

Momma's momma opened doors when the collectors wouldn't eat

Flour sacks for pillows, thread pulled tight to make it last

She wrote your name in sackcloth if you couldn't pay in cash

Mister Odom owed her three years, paid it back in labor

Fixed the roof before he fixed his pride, called it a favor

She never chased a debtor, only tracked what people carried

Said the ledger ain't for shaming, it's for knowing who you married

Fire took the schoolhouse, half the block slept in her kitchen

She crossed off every debt that night, called the loss its own lesson

Buried two children, kept the book beside the family bible

Said the numbers only matter when the mercy stays reliable

By the time she passed, the led