Intro
Mama kept a composition book, corner torn, spine cracked
Wrote her dreams in pencil, cashed them out on the first of the month
Landlord banging twice, she'd flip a page and smile
Said the numbers never lie if you read the water right
Verse
Third floor kitchen, kettle screaming past nine
Mama pours the grounds out, reads the swirl like a sign
Says she seen a red door sleeping, calls that a five
Says she seen her mother's hands, calls that an eight, alive
I'm eleven, watching, holding pencil steady
Circle up the digits 'fore the corner man gets ready
Lottery counter glass fogged, Duante behind the till
Takes her dollar, prints the ticket, never asks if it'll fill
Landlord Mr. Petrosian knock like a metronome
Two-fifteen every first, standing outside our home
She'd meet him with a number folded soft inside her palm
Say give me till Thursday, he'd sigh but he stayed calm
Sometimes it hit small, covered half of what we owed
Sometimes it hit nothing, we'd stretch the beans and go slow
But she never stopped the dreaming, never stopped the scratch
Said the ceiling leaks in patterns if you learn to watch
Chorus
It's a rent money prophecy, written in the steam
Mama's dream book table, paying debts with a dream
Landlord at the door, we still holding on
Rent money prophecy, keep the lights on
Verse
She's gone eleven years, I kept the composition book
Spine held with duct tape, still know right where to look
Got my own kitchen now, kettle's the same worn brand
Boil the water slow, let the grounds read my hand
Landlord's name is different, same knock though, same beat
Rent's up forty dollars, still due on the same street
My daughter's six, she asks me why I write in a book
I tell her some things ain't about the number, it's the look
Burnt my thumb on the spout once, February cold
Scar sits there quiet like the ones her palm would hold
Some months the ticket's paper, some months it's just my check
Either way I'm circling digits like it's saving my neck
Faith and math both liars, but they both still pay the bill
Learned that from a woman with a pencil and the will
I don't trust the swirl now, not the way she did
But I still write the numbers down for my kid
Chorus
It's a rent money prophecy, written in the steam
Mama's dream book table, paying debts with a dream
Landlord at the door, we still holding on
Rent money prophecy, keep the lights on
Bridge
Truth is the numbers rarely hit, we made it on the hustle
Extra shifts and borrowed cash, that book was just the muscle
Kept us moving when the fear got loud at 3 a.m.
Kept her steady, kept me steady, that's the real amen
I don't play the lottery, but I kept her pencil case
Sometimes hope's a ritual, not a payout, not a race
Outro
Composition book sits closed now on my shelf tonight
Rent's paid, lamp still burning, I sleep without a fight
Still hear her in the kettle when the water starts to hum
Rent money prophecy — that's where I come from
