Intro
Delmont Scrapyard hums at five before the sun
Copper wire cuts clean, teaches you what silence costs
Verse
Forklift key in my palm, thermos cold as a stone
Brother's tuition due, so I clocked in alone
Chain-link fence rusted orange, gate don't ever lock right
Sorted scrap till my hands looked like a roadmap at midnight
First cut came from steel coil, thin as a whisper
Bled through my glove, kept working, didn't dare miss a
Shift 'cause the check was short and the letter said final
I taped up the wound with a Sharpie line to mark the timeline
Told my moms it's nothing, told my brother go to class
Every wire I stripped bought another semester to pass
Foreman named Otis said kid you healing wrong
Said scars tell the truth even when your mouth stays strong
I started counting marks like a ledger on my wrist
Each one dated small, so I never could forget the list
Not for sympathy, not to wear it like a crown
Just proof I stood up every time the weight came down
Chorus
Every scar's a payment, small and slow
Nothing's free, that's how the ledger goes
I keep the receipts written under my skin
Scars in increments, that's how I win
Verse
Two years deep, my brother graduated in the spring
Sat front row in a shirt still smelling like the scrap bin
He don't know the coil that opened up my forearm
Bought the cap and gown, kept the family calm
Otis retired that fall, left me the forklift key
Said the yard remembers everyone who bled honestly
New kid named Reggie started, sixteen, hands still soft
I showed him how to wrap a cut before it costs him more
Told him don't let the scar turn into a story you sell
Let it be quiet, let it just heal itself
He asked me why I stayed when the pay never climbed
I said loyalty's a debt you settle one scar at a time
Some nights the metal dust looks like snow under the light
Some nights I trace the marks and remember every fight
Not with a fist, just with the hours, just with the cold
Every increment's a version of the man I used to hold
Bridge
Moms asked to see my hands last Sunday at the table
I opened them up slow, said this is why we're stable
She traced the lines like she was reading something sacred
Said son you didn't have to bleed to prove you're patient
I said some debts don't take checks, some take skin
Every scar's a receipt for a version I let win
Outro
Delmont Scrapyard still hums past the break of light
Ledger's getting shorter, scars still healing right
Nothing's free, that's how the ledger goes
Scars in increments, that's how I know
