rain came south through the cracked stone bars cold floor sleep with a bible full of scars they called me stumble said just say the word funny how freedom scare powerful herds so make me cough through the dead night damp who's outside pacing lantern lamp i kept seeing roads inside my head while the jailer laughed and counted bread and the world outside already moved on but my spirit kept walking long after dawn every bag back then was full of shame every baby back then had its own small name strapped to the shoulders pulling me low like guilt got weight only sinners know down back home so comfort cheap smiles in windows souls asleep everybody buying shiny distraction while the whole place leaned toward collapse reaction they called it living i called it smoke hard staying awake when the whole world joke then i hit that swamp of sorrow deep where doubt gonna yell and slowly creep smut grab ankles whispering quit every bad memory feeding the itch dark humor i almost drowned in my own mind funny how fear know your voice by design met people pass by praying more hard like fame got salt with greedy cards one-track travel with tired eyes set truth on crooked before it rise so i kept on moving through thief-filled roads through silver-tongued saints in designer robes through markets selling miracle cures through polished liars preaching purity tours every town got its own false king one so pleasure one so bling one so outrageous boxed in gold same empty hunger just getting recold and me i still had holes in the sole of my shoe still half afraid what the light might do met people chained to what they inherited dragging family fear like they married it met lonely ghosts wearing status proud smiling big for a dead-eye crowd one woman said why chase that gate come right here and the food taste great almost stayed almost froze almost traded purpose for a softer road but somewhere beyond all the fog and fraud i kept hearing grace breathe through the dark not loud not flashy not begging for views just steady as dawn breaking night into news and everybody slowly got light not because life stopped learning to fight but because i quit dragging every old ghost trying to prove myself more than most now when i look back at that prison cell i don't really hate where the story fell 'cause some people free still living in chains and some locked rooms unlock the brains i still stumble still lose direction sometimes still talk sideways when the hurt unwinds
