Verse
Bell above the door still ring the same three notes
Duval kept a ledger taped up where the register floats
Sharpie names in columns, red line through the paid
Blue chalk for the ones still owing on the trade
I was eight cents short for milk when my mama's check ran late
He wrote my name in blue ink, said come back Friday, wait
Penny jar by the counter, take one, leave one, share
Rules older than the block, hung heavy in the air
Pre-Chorus
Wonder what it means when your name gets crossed in red
Wonder if the tally's just a story that gets read
Every kid on that wall either living it or dead
Chorus
Corner store prophecy, written in Sharpie ink
Tell you who gon' make it 'fore you get the chance to think
Corner store prophecy, credit or the door
That's the only fortune that the block ever swore
Verse
Fifteen years later I walked back through that same bell
Duval's hands shaking now but he remembers me well
Points to a faded name still owing on the wall
Says that boy made captain, paid it back last fall
Points to another, ink gone dark, never got erased
Says the streets took that one 'fore he found his own pace
I asked him why he kept it, why he don't just wipe it clean
He said the debt ain't money, boy, it's proof of what we've seen
Pre-Chorus
Wonder what it means when your name gets crossed in red
Wonder if the tally's just a story that gets read
Every kid on that wall either living it or dead
Chorus
Corner store prophecy, written in Sharpie ink
Tell you who gon' make it 'fore you get the chance to think
Corner store prophecy, credit or the door
That's the only fortune that the block ever swore
Bridge
Now I keep a list of my own, taped inside my coat
Names of everybody who kept me afloat
Not for what they owe me, for what they gave for free
Figured that's the only prophecy I need to see
Duval's gone gray, still marking up that wall
Says the ink don't judge you, it just remembers all
Chorus
Corner store prophecy, written in Sharpie ink
Tell you who gon' make it 'fore you get the chance to think
Corner store prophecy, credit or the door
That's the only fortune that the block ever swore
