Chalk Line Prayer

[Verse 1]
(Spoken)
Hear di ice cream truck down Maxfield Avenue, just past sundown.
We scrape the mortar from a worn-out shoe, brush di white dust from our brow.
Another wall stand straight, another day's wage gone before it touch di palm.
The smell of judgment jasmine fightin' the exhaust from a panel van, tryin' fi keep we calm.

[Chorus]
(Sung)
So we snap di line, a prayer in the blue chalk dust,
And walk it straight through di rust and trust.
Yeah, we snap di line, 'cause it's all we got to hold,
A story written truer than gold.

[Verse 2]
(Spoken)
Friday evenin', when di pay is thin and di promise feel like a hole inna yuh pocket.
See a youth-man countin' notes from a game we nah play, a brand new socket-set in him rocket.
Mama say, "Son, di straightest wall start wid one true stone. Mind how you set your soul."
So we measure twice, 'cause Babylon cut once and take control.

[Chorus]
(Sung)
So we snap di line, a prayer in the blue chalk dust,
And walk it straight through di rust and trust.
Yeah, we snap di line, 'cause it's all we got to hold,
A story written truer than gold.

[Bridge]
(Instrumental Breakdown — 20 seconds. Crisp drums and a lonesome banjo trade licks over a deep sub-bass. A subtle, winding phin melody ghosts in the background.)

(Spoken)
Check it wid di spirit level… see if di soul stand plumb.

[Chorus]
(Sung, full wall-of-sound, communal vocals)
WE SNAP DI LINE, A PRAYER IN THE BLUE CHALK DUST,
AND WALK IT STRAIGHT THROUGH DI RUST AND TRUST.
YEAH, WE SNAP DI LINE, 'CAUSE IT'S ALL WE GOT TO HOLD,
A STORY WRITTEN TRUER THAN GOLD!

[Outro]
(Spoken, quietly, over fading banjo)
Den we go home. And di dust settle.