Scars Keep the Receipts

Intro

Eighth-floor mirror, steam still on the glass

Count the marks like stubs from a ticket that won't pass

Every one got a date, every one got a name

Body keep a ledger that the mouth won't claim

Verse

Left brow, summer of the block party fight

Cousin swung wide, I stepped in to make it right

Bottle caught me high, blood ran down like rent

Never told my mother where the twenty stitches went

Knuckle on the right hand, cracked from Pauly's door

Boy owed me forty, I collected, nothing more

Burn scar on the wrist from the fryer at Nunzio's

Twelve-hour shifts just to keep the lights and stove lit, oh

That's the tuition, that's the toll booth on the way

Every mark's a receipt for a bill I had to pay

Ankle got twisted running from a thing I didn't do

Cops don't read scars, they just read the residue

So I kept my own file, kept it under my skin

Paper burns and fades but the body locks it in

Ask me what I've given, I don't need to raise my voice

Pull my sleeve back slow, let the tissue make the choice

Chorus

Scars keep the receipts

Every mark on me still speaks

Paid it out in blood and heat

Scars keep the receipts

Verse

New scar this winter, hairline on the jaw

Held a door for Trina's brother, watched the whole block draw

He was in too deep, owed the wrong crew twice

Stood between the static, didn't think it through nice

Caught an elbow, caught a ring, caught a lesson too

Loyalty ain't cheap when the interest comes due

Mama saw the bruise, didn't ask, just pressed the ice

Said some debts get paid in something not as nice as advice

I got one on my palm from the fence behind the church

Climbed it for a friend who left me swinging in the search

He came back for me, that's why the scar don't sting

It's proof he circled back, proof the thing meant something

Every mark's a witness, every one testifies

I don't need the courtroom, I just need my own eyes

Roll the sleeve back further, let the story run

Every scar's a receipt for a war I didn't want but won

Chorus

Scars keep the receipts

Every mark on me still speaks

Paid it out in blood and heat

Scars keep the receipts

Bridge

Doctor asked me once, said these could fade with time

I told him leave 'em be, they the only proof that's mine

Not a flex, not a trophy, not a thing I show for praise

Just a map of every corner where I chose to stay

Some scars I regret, some I'd carve again

Both kind on the same skin, both counted as amen

Outro

Steam clears off the mirror, marks still on the glass

Paid every one in full, watched every debt pass

Body kept the paper when the paper wouldn't keep

Scars keep the receipts, that's the only word I keep