Cold Water Gospel

Verse 1

Landlord posted on my door at dawn

I signed the paper for the light I never bought

God in the static of the space heater humming back

Talking to me like a father that I almost was

I kept the thermostat low so the angel couldn't find me

Couldn't read the meter on the miracles I'm hiding

My mother's Bible on the counter with the coffee stains

Page two-nineteen where she underlined my name

Pre-Chorus

And the rain on the fire escape

Sounding like applause from a crowd I never made

And the rain on the fire escape

Every drop a witness to the prayer I never prayed

Chorus

Let the rooftop choir cry for me

Cold water gospel running through my teeth

Let the rooftop choir cry for me

I'm giving every hour to the streets

Verse 2

Pulled a shift at the diner till the grill went black

Wrote rhymes on the ticket between the hash browns and the fact

That my brother's court date landed on my rent day

So I split the difference like a blade across the payday

Said my name in the courtroom like a verdict and a verse

Same tongue that blessed the dinner now is cursing through my purse

The judge asked if I understand the gravity

I told him gravity is easy when you're already falling free

Pre-Chorus

And the rain on the fire escape

Sounding like applause from a crowd I never made

And the rain on the fire escape

Every drop a witness to the prayer I never prayed

Chorus

Let the rooftop choir cry for me

Cold water gospel running through my teeth

Let the rooftop choir cry for me

I'm giving every hour to the streets

Bridge

I used to count the ceiling cracks like constellations

Now I count the ways I almost made it back

There's a version of me standing in a different kitchen

Holding all the money that I never had

And he's laughing

And he's laughing

And he's laughing at the boy who kept believing

That the static in the heater was a father still receiving

Chorus

Let the rooftop choir cry for me

Cold water gospel running through my teeth

Let the rooftop choir cry for me

I'm giving every hour to the streets

I'm giving every hour

Giving every hour

Giving every hour to the streets