Boots, Bible, Back Hall

Scuffed-up boots

Dust on the tongue

Fluorescent hum

And the night feel young

Boot prints

Down this back hall

Mop streaks

On a cracked wall

Got a pocket New Testament

Folded like a bad note

Name on the cover

Sweat in the back coat

Mama said “boy, take it when you fall”

I kept it by the lighter

Hidden in the stall

Prayers in the margins

Curses in the air

Ink bleeding through

Like the secrets in here

Boots on the tile, Bible in my hand

Walking that line I barely understand

Back hall echo when I start to fall

If I lose myself

Will You find me in this hall?

Boots on the tile, Bible in my hand

Caught between the fight and the promised land

Back hall echo when I start to fall

If I lose myself

Will You find me in this hall?

Clock out late

Grease on my name tag

Boss talk cheap

Heart in a trash bag

Phone full of debts

Friends wanna sin-spin

I’m thumbing through a verse

Like a code I ain’t been in

“Blessed are the broken”

That line hit raw

Reading by a flicker

Of the exit sign glow

Temptation in the doorway

Laughing at the call

But I plant one boot heel

Hard into that floor