THE ONE COMING FOR ME

A man opens the door at 1am and the debt collector is his own younger self.

"The one coming for me was me

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Words from the artist’s archive

THE ONE COMING FOR ME lyrics

Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.

Read the lyric sheet

Intro

The seed, the soil The greed, the spoil The trigger, the echo The figure, the repo The sin, the tab The grin, the grab The ones that I served The turns that I swerved The mirror, the debt The scripture, the sweat The one coming for me Was once the kid in me

Verse 1

Two knocks bend the hour past one Amber tow lights comb my living room A red slip breathes beneath the door My plate, my name, one number more I watch the porch glass catch his shape Small shoulders under my grown face He holds the shoes I wore too thin Mud at the heel, no fear in him He says, You promised we would eat Not make a meal of weaker seats You wanted room, you wanted proof Then raised the floor and sold the roof Behind him idles what I owe A patient truck, a steady glow I ask which debt he came to claim He points past money at my name

Chorus

The one coming for me was me Mud on his shoes, my missing key He knows what sleeps beneath my seat He does not want the car or deed If I let him in, he may ruin me If I shut him out, who do I keep?

Verse 2

He opens ledgers, not my safe Traces each shortcut by its shape A favor marked beside a fee A meal that came with loyalty I called it leverage, clean and smart He calls it hunger dressed as art He reads the texts I left on seen When help had nothing left for me He finds the grin from every grab The hidden sum behind each tab The ones I served to earn a seat The turns I swerved on quieter streets He is too young to price the cost Too close to count what mercy lost I tell him good men also bend He asks where bending learns to end

Chorus

The one coming for me was me Mud on his shoes, my missing key He knows what sleeps beneath my seat He does not want the car or deed If I let him in, he may ruin me If I shut him out, who do I keep?

Verse 3

I show the wire sent at four The grocery bags beside a door The worker paid before my cut The phone I answered when luck shut I name the roofs my choices kept The nights I drove while others slept I say a clean hand cannot pull When ropes are tied and tables full I kept six plates above the sink He counts the mouths pushed from the brink One side says survival takes a toll The other asks who paid it whole I say the seed was handed down He asks who spread it through the ground Neither of us lowers his case We share a pulse, divide a face

Bridge

The truckman waits and checks his watch The chain goes tense beneath the lot The kid lays scripture on the hood One line is torn where mercy stood He could forgive and lose his claim I could confess and keep my name The mirror holds us, cheek to cheek Both mouths are open. Neither speaks.

Chorus

The one coming for me was me Mud on his shoes, my missing key He knows what sleeps beneath my seat He does not want the car or deed If I let him in, he may ruin me If I shut him out, who do I keep?

Outro

The engine starts. The porch turns bare. I turn the lock with both hands there. Which one walked in, I cannot tell. Which one I barred may know me well.

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