Interest on a Borrowed Winter

Intro

Space heater humming, cord stretched thin down the hall,

borrowed coat on my back, still don't fit me at all.

Verse

Winter of oh-three, the gas got shut at the meter,

landlord taped a notice, block letters read "or vacate."

Mama pulled a double, came home smelling of grease and cold,

left her coat on the hook so the draft wouldn't touch my soul.

Miss Renata ran a cord through the wall like a lifeline,

said keep the heater humming till your mother's check's on time.

I wore her husband's parka, cuffs rolled past my wrist,

counted every hour warm like a debt I couldn't dismiss.

Wrote her name on a napkin, folded it in my sock,

figured one day I'd pay her back double, plus what it cost.

That winter taught me warmth ain't free, it's a loan with a face,

every blanket's got a lender, every fire's got a place.

I still feel that chill some nights when the bills pile deep,

still hear that heater humming underneath my sleep.

The parka's long gone, the pockets wore through at the seam,

but the interest on that winter's still compounding in my dreams.

Chorus

Interest on a borrowed winter,

climbing slow like smoke through the vent,

I'm still paying what was lent,

interest on a borrowed winter.

Verse

Ten years later I'm the one plugging cords through the wall,

found a family freezing, kid coughing down the hall.

Gave 'em my old space heater, wrote the date on the tape,

figured this the interest, this the debt I gotta repay.

Renata passed in April, funeral closed casket cold,

never got to hand her the money that I always told.

So I started a fund, called it Winter's Ledger Line,

every dollar that comes in got somebody's coat in mind.

Kept her napkin note laminated, taped inside my wallet,

carry her name like collateral, never let it fall off.

Landlord from the old block, he retired, sold the lot,

new building got a thermostat that never learned to stop.

Funny how the systems fail but people balance out the books,

funny how a stranger's kindness reads like interest when you look.

I'm still adding up the winters, still don't know the final sum,

but I know the warmth I'm owed is warmth I gotta pass along.

Chorus

Interest on a borrowed winter,

climbing slow like smoke through the vent,

I'm still paying what was lent,

interest on a borrowed winter.

Bridge

Some folks close the ledger, call the balance paid in full,

I leave a line open, on purpose, let it pull.

'Cause debt like that ain't shameful, it's the only kind that's kind,

the kind that turns a stranger into family over time.

I don't want the zero, zero means it's done,

I want the running total, want the winter to still run.

Outro

So mark it in the ledger, ink still wet, still warm,

interest on a borrowed winter keeping me from harm.