Intro
Tape gone yellow on the window, curling at the ends
Flyers stacked like scripture, glass is where it all begins
Ms. Odalys don't peel 'em off, she just adds one more
Every corner of that window got a story from before
Verse
Nine years old reading missing posters like a menu
Dog named Rocket, then a girl named Renee right beneath you
Same width tape, same fading ink, same desperate plea
Learned the difference between losing something and a tragedy
Basketball flyer for the summer league, sixteen and under
Right next to a funeral program, kid I used to wonder
Why he stopped showing up to practice, now I understand
Casket closed, his mama's cursive shaking in her hand
Rent flyer taped for years, room for eighty a week
Watched three families cycle through before the landlord could speak
Job fair Saturday, bring resume, wear your good shoes
Half the block can't afford the bus fare, that's the catch, that's the news
I stood there waiting on the 40, reading like it's Sunday
Learning who got married, who got buried, who ran away
Never needed cable news, the glass told everything true
Every name up on that window used to walk these blocks too
Hook
Corner store scriptures, taped up on the glass
Tell you who gon' make it, tell you who ain't gon' last
Corner store scriptures, yellow tape don't lie
Read 'em on the way to school, learn how to survive
Verse
Fifteen now, my boy Dashawn got his flyer on the door
Benefit for his surgery, we sold plates to make the score
Sixty dollars, chicken and rice, everybody chipped a piece
Store let us tape it front and center, right above the lease
That's the thing about that glass, it don't discriminate
Grief and celebration sharing space, same real estate
Watched my cousin's mugshot make the local paper's front
Watched his daughter's honor roll get taped up months in front
Two truths living inches from each other on that door
Nobody erases nothing, that's the block's unwritten law
I started reading closer, started catching what it meant
Every flyer is a choice somebody made, every cent
Spent on paper, on ink, on hoping strangers care
Was a prayer nobody prayed out loud but taped it anywhere
Learned to read the silence between headlines and the dates
Learned the corner store don't judge you, it just documents your weight
Hook
Corner store scriptures, taped up on the glass
Tell you who gon' make it, tell you who ain't gon' last
Corner store scriptures, yellow tape don't lie
Read 'em on the way to school, learn how to survive
Bridge
Twenty-six now, I taped one up myself last week
Free tutoring, Tuesdays, bring a pencil, come and speak
Ms. Odalys smiled, said "your name's been on this glass before"
I said not like this, this time I'm giving, not keeping score
Outro
Tape'll yellow, corners curl, another name gon' rise
Glass keep every scripture that the block refuse to hide
Read it going, read it coming, that's how we survive
Corner store scriptures never learned how to lie
