Debt collectors

Clock in at ten, yeah I already know,

Same bullshit waiting at the same damn door.

Supervisor on her power trip, talking reckless again,

I just nod my head and count to ten.

Smile on my face but my jaw is tight,

Swallowing fire every goddamn night.

They wouldn't last a day inside my head,

But my babies need a roof and they need to be fed.

So I bite my tongue till it bleeds,

Take the disrespect, plant the seeds.

Ain't about me, never was,

I do this for love, not because.

I take the shit they dish and I don't say a word,

Every insult, every slight, every time I'm not heard.

Suffering in silence like a soldier at war,

Don't even know what I'm fighting for anymore.

But then I get home and I see their faces,

And suddenly all of it falls into places.

I bleed for this family, I'll take every blow,

They'll never break what they'll never know.

That supervisor talking down like she built something real,

Ain't built a damn thing, just learned how to steal

confidence from people who are better than her,

I see straight through the act, I see all of her.

Passive aggressive, little jabs every shift,

I just let it land and give my mind a lift,

Picture my kids sleeping safe and warm in their beds,

And all her bullshit just clears out my head.

So I bite my tongue till it bleeds,

Take the disrespect, plant the seeds.

Ain't about me, never was,

I do this for love, not because.

I take the shit they dish and I don't say a word,

Every insult, every slight, every time I'm not heard.

Suffering in silence like a soldier at war,

Don't even know what I'm fighting for anymore.

But then I get home and I see their faces,

And suddenly all of it falls into places.

I bleed for this family, I'll take every blow,

They'll never break what they'll never know.

You think I don't notice? I notice everything.

Every little power move, every little sting.

I could blow this whole place up with what I hold inside,

But I got something worth more than my pride.

So go ahead and talk, go ahead and belittle me,

Every dollar that you sign just builds my family.

You own the building but you don't own me,

I'm already gone, just waiting to be free.

Some nights I sit in my car before I drive away,

Just decompress from all the shit I faced that day.

Deep breath, wipe my face, put it back in a box,

Walk through my front door and I change out the locks

on everything they did, every word that they said,

Because none of that poison follows me to my bed.

My children wake up and they see their dad whole,

That's the only damn victory that matters to my soul.

They don't know what it cost me,

They don't know what I carry.

Every night I come home broken,

Every morning I'm a father.

And that's enough.

That's enough.

That's enough.