Dust & Dialogue

I've been

sitting with my thoughts,

radio off, windows up,

Twenty-something and still figuring out what's enough,

Momma always said that money can't buy you peace,

Took me chasing paper for a while to see the least

Of my problems was the balance sitting in the bank,

Real issue was I never took the time to think 'Bout who

I want to be before the world decide,

Before the culture and the comments start to shape my pride.

I remember being young,

ain't have a plan at all,

Now I'm older, watching young men make the same free fall,

Into the trap of thinking clout is worth the risk,

I've seen the smartest minds reduced to just a clip.

So I write it down,

hoping somebody catch the wave,

Hoping one verse make a young man way more brave To sit

alone in silence, face what he ignore,

'Cause growth don't come from noise,

it come from closing doors.

Look in the mirror,

tell me what you see,

Somebody fighting to become who they should be,

Ain't no filter

gon' fix what's on the inside,

Gotta face yourself

before you find your stride.

I got a cousin doing time for something dumb he did,

Nineteen years old, now he writing letters to his kids,

I visit when I can but the drive be doing something,

Reminds me how a system built to keep us running

In circles, never landing,

never planting roots, Judge you off your record 'fore he judge you

off the truth, I ain't excusing choices,

everybody responsible,

But the deck be stacked,

the game itself impossible.

Still I believe in second chances,

third and fourth, 'Cause everybody human,

everybody worth

More than worst mistake they made in a chapter,

Life's a book, not just one page after.

I pray for my folks who still stuck inside the cycle,

Pray they find a reason,

find a purpose, find a title Bigger than the label that the

world try to hand,

'Cause we are not our worst days,

we're a work in demand.

Look in the mirror,

tell me what you see,

Somebody fighting to become who they should be,

Ain't no filter

gon' fix what's on the inside,

Gotta face yourself

before you find your stride.

Sometimes I think 'bout legacy,

what I'm leaving behind,

Not the cars or the chains,

but the peace of mind I could pass to a young man

lost like I was,

Show him introspection get you further than the fuzz Of chasing validation

off a stranger's screen,

I've learned the loudest rooms be the emptiest I've seen.

Success ain't the mansion,

it's the mind that's free,

It's looking in the mirror and finally liking what you see.

I'm still learning, still healing,

still trying to grow,

Ain't got it figured out,

and honestly, that's dope,

'Cause the day I think I'm finished is the day I stop,

Life's a lesson on repeat until they call the clock.

So to whoever listening,

however you land here,

Take a breath, sit with it,

let the truth be clear: You are not your trauma,

you're not your worst mistake,

You're a mirror still forming — take your time,

don't break. (soft, spoken) Look in the mirror...

tell me what you see...

Still becoming...

still becoming...