Concrete Boxes, Open Sky

Lyrics

[Verse 1] They called him True Love pale kid, blue veins, cracked knuckles hand-me-down coat, cold summers sleepin on a cousin’s torn covers Mama on the floor payin demons Daddy just a rumor in the ceilings Raised by the dice and the corners OGs sayin, “feel nothin, get dollars” Little baggies in his school socks graffiti on his heart, spray-locked Every handshake, one eye on the door every hug, one hand on the drawer Popped pills just to blur the sirens smoked nights into quiet islands Bankroll dreams, bloody jeans livin on the run from every scene [Chorus] True Love lost in the alleys chained to the chase, to the static in his head Stackin up sins, stackin up charges sleepin with the devil at the foot of his bed Now he’s prayin in concrete boxes countin those cracks like a rosary line True Love bleeds but he keeps on breathin tryin to turn that poison into wine [Verse 2] Twenty-three, steel door slammin folder on the table, all his damage Judge read his whole life out loud like a song he never wanted, wrong crowd Orange on his back, same color as the sunrise first time he’d seen a dawn with clear eyes Push-ups till his shoulders burned clean books in his bunk, whole worlds in between Met a lifer who said, “Kid, you ain’t cursed you just drank the pain first, not the thirst” So he fasted from the hate and the lies wrote letters to a future he couldn’t recognize Stared at that mirror in the metal saw a scared boy, not a rebel Started breathin slow, sayin names he hurt promisin the dirt he’d leave the earth less worse [Chorus] True Love lost in the alleys chained to the chase, to the static in his head Stackin up sins, stackin up charges sleepin with the devil at the foot of his bed Now he’s prayin in concrete boxes countin those cracks like a rosary line True Love bleeds but he keeps on breathin tryin to turn that poison into wine [Bridge] [Soft piano, drums drop to half-time] He got out on a gray day breath fogged like smoke from the old days Bus ride, clutchin that paper bag half of it hope, half of it past Met her at a diner pourin coffee tattoos on her wrists, little cross, soft teeth She said, “Why you starein like you seen a ghost?” He said, “I did, it was me, I was doin the most” (yeah) They laughed till the neon went blurry shared scars, shared stupid stories Two broken cups in a thunderstorm catchin every drop till they felt reborn [Chorus] Now True Love’s holdin his baby crib in the room where the stash used to be Ring on his hand, kiss in the kitchen dancin on the floor where he once couldn’t sleep True Love prays over dinner thanks for the chains that cracked in his mind Used to chase death, now he chases the daylight every little breath sayin, “I survived, I’m alive” [Outro] He still hears sirens in his dreams still sees chalk lines in the seams But he wakes up, counts blessings, not losses True Love was raised by streets now he’s raisin his kids from the crosses