New Sole, Old Soil

[Verse 1]
New soles quiet on concrete I once knew loud,
A stranger now to shadows where my own truth was found.
The storefronts changed, a fresh facade, new timber bright,
But deep beneath the stucco, old foundations hold the light.
A faint jerk chicken smoke, a reggae bassline low,
Just ghosts in the breezeway where our futures used to grow.

[Chorus]
New soles on old soil, the past ain't never gone,
Just silent blueprints for where I'm standing on.
A vestige of what was, beneath the rising sun.

[Verse 2]
I pass the park where our hoop dreams hit the rim,
Now quiet kids, another narrative, seen from the brim
Of this new fitted cap, watching the city's pulse,
Feeling the weight of memory, like load-bearing vaults.
Each cracked pavement, a splintered truth in plain sight,
Of parents' unseen labor, framing every single light.

[Chorus]
New soles on old soil, the past ain't never gone,
Just silent blueprints for where I'm standing on.
A vestige of what was, beneath the rising sun.

[Bridge]
The same sun warms the asphalt, the same wind whispers through,
But the joinery feels different, a shift in the old view.
Am I building anew, or just observing the frame?

[Outro]
Still scanning the blueprint, whispering my own name.
On familiar grounds, in these shoes, a quiet reclaim.