Scar Tissue Serenade (Version 2)

Intro

Tenement hallway, smell of ammonia and rust

Mailbox number seven, never got nothing but dust

Mama said the building breathes when you listen close enough

Said the walls remember every hand that kept them up

Verse 1

Fourth floor, no elevator, knees know the count

Took the stairs two at a time, racing against doubt

Sixteen, working nights at the warehouse on Mott

Stacking pallets till my palms split, fingers raw and hot

Foreman said don't bleed on the freight, keep it moving son

Wrapped my hands in paper towels, made it to the one

Landlord waiting at the door with his hand already out

Rent was due on the first, it was already the eighth

Watched my mother's shoulders bend a little more that week

Learned right then what survival meant, learned not to speak

Came home with the money, smelled like sweat and diesel fuel

She just nodded, took it, didn't ask me how or what the rule

Scar on my left palm still splits when the weather turns

Scar on my chest runs deeper, that's the one that burns

Chorus

These marks don't fade, they just learn to live

Proof of what I took, proof of what I give

These marks don't fade, they just learn to live

Proof of what I took, proof of what I give

Verse 2

Twenty-two, moved weight for a man named Clarence Street

Thought the money was the answer, thought it made me complete

Six months in, cousin Dante disappeared one night

Found him three blocks over, face caved in, not right

Clarence said don't ask questions, said don't go to cops

Said the game don't pause for nobody, said it never stops

But I stopped, walked away, took a job at the dock

Loading shipping containers under fluorescent clock

Lost the money, lost the rep, lost the crew that came with it

But I kept my mother's number saved, kept my breathing, kept my limit

That's a different kind of scar, one that don't show skin

One that marks your choices, marks the man you could've been

Chorus

These marks don't fade, they just learn to live

Proof of what I took, proof of what I give

These marks don't fade, they just learn to live

Proof of what I took, proof of what I give

Bridge

Now I'm teaching kids on Saturday at the rec center

Showing them the palms, the lines, the places pressure settles

Said your body keeps a ledger that your mind won't comprehend

Every scar's a conversation between where you are and where you been

Ain't no shame in the marks, ain't no weakness in the weight

Strength is knowing which ones matter, knowing when to break

Outro

Fourth floor apartment, own the lease now, own the keys

Mama sits in the kitchen, she don't bend the way she used to be

I got scars from the work, got scars from the wait

Got scars from the love, got scars from the hate

And I wear them like a language only this block understand

Like a prayer, like a promise, like a man