Intro
Chalk dust on the mirror, ghost mark on the glass
Every road I'm leaving teaches me the past
Grandad drew the first one, I just read it right
Runes in the rearview, guiding me through the night
Verse
Grandpa rode the boxcars out of Wilmington in thirty-four
Chalked a cross on the gatepost, said this house got more
Cat meant kind woman, wheel meant keep on walking
Snake meant dog with teeth, a language built from talking
He read the fence line like a preacher read the psalm
One wrong symbol had you sleeping through the storm
Kept a nub of chalk sewn inside his coat
Marked every kindness like a debt he had to note
Told my daddy the code before they tore the tracks
Said a man who can't read signs gon' break his own back
Daddy passed it down in scars instead of chalk
Every burn on his knuckle was a story he could walk
I grew up tracing symbols on the tailgate rust
Learned survival ain't a legend, it's arithmetic and trust
Now I drive the same roads with the same old ghost
Every mark still guiding like a lighthouse on the coast
Chorus
Runes in the rearview, chalk turned to ash
Every mark that raised me still cutting through the glass
Read the world in symbols before I learned the words
Runes in the rearview, that's how the outlaw survives
Verse
Now the marks are different, chalk turned to spray
Tow yard scratched a code in my tire the night they towed it away
X on the curb where the dice game bled
Circle on the door meant the count was fed
Learned to read a block like my grandad read a field
Every symbol on the wall was a verdict, was a seal
Three dots by the mailbox meant the law rode through at four
A slash across the mattress meant don't sleep here no more
I left my own mark once, a star above the drain
Showed the young ones running product where the current don't reach rain
Every scar on my forearm is a rune I understand
Read myself like scripture when I'm holding my own hand
Mama kept the chalk nub grandad carried in his coat
I carry something sharper but it's the same old vote
Vote for living, vote for reading what the city wrote
Runes don't ever lie to you, only men do, only hope
Chorus
Runes in the rearview, chalk turned to ash
Every mark that raised me still cutting through the glass
Read the world in symbols before I learned the words
Runes in the rearview, that's how the outlaw survives
Bridge
I chalk a line now on the gate where I first learned to run
Teach the little cousins the meaning before the marks are gone
Not a warning this time, it's a compass drawn in white
Shows them where the kindness is, shows them where's the fight
Grandad's cross, my scar
