Runes Beneath the Pawn Shop

Verse

Glass case cracked since eighty-three, still holding shine

Rings that outlived marriages, chains that outlived time

Grandad marked the underside in symbols only kin could read

Not a tally of the debt, just the days a man could still proceed

Watch with no hands, still ticking in the drawer

Owner never came back, left his shadow on the floor

I run my thumb along the grooves before I lift the gate

Every scratch's a story that the paperwork erased

Pre-Chorus

What do you call a vault that never locks its pain

Just circles what was lost and calls the loss a gain

Chorus

Runes beneath the pawn shop, older than the sign

Every mark's a man who traded gold to buy some time

We don't sell the story, we just hold it for a while

The counter keeps the currency, the customer keeps the trial

Verse

Woman brought her husband's boots the winter heat got cut

Said she'd be back by spring, left the laces knotted shut

I marked an X where the sole was worn to paper thin

Five winters now, the boots still wait, the X still lives within

Kid pawned a trumpet for his mother's hospital bill

Played it once behind the counter, let the brass stand still

I gave him extra on the ticket, carved it with a wave

A symbol for the ones who traded music to be brave

Pre-Chorus

What do you call a vault that never shuts its door

Counts the ones who couldn't come back for what they swore

Chorus

Runes beneath the pawn shop, older than the sign

Every mark's a man who traded gold to buy some time

We don't sell the story, we just hold it for a while

The counter keeps the currency, the customer keeps the trial

Bridge

They offered cash to shutter, said the block's getting cleared

I told them every symbol cost somebody a tear

It ain't a museum piece, it's not for sale or show

It's the only proof still standing that we made it through the cold

Chorus

Runes beneath the pawn shop, older than the sign

Every mark's a man who traded gold to buy some time

We don't sell the story, we just hold it for a while

The counter keeps the currency, the customer keeps the trial