THE SHIFT

[Verse 1 — who he was]
Benny was a fine man once, hands clean, laugh loud.
Rooster crow of a man, walked tall in a crowd.
He wasn't born a thief. He was born like the rest —
mother's boy, church tie, Sunday shirt pressed.
Then somewhere in the shift he learned the trick of a hand,
learned a pocket ain't a pocket if it's someone else's plan.
Started small. A pen. A pack. A ten-dollar note.
The first one is a whisper. The next one starts to shout.

[Pre-Chorus]
So I sat him down. Said Ben, come here.
Said listen brother, I'll be clear.

[Chorus]
I said don't go down that road.
I said don't go down that road.
Every dollar in your pocket costs a friend at the door —
son I said don't go down that road.

[Verse 2 — the descent]
He nodded like he heard me. He kept the pockets full.
Sleight of hand, alley cat, ball-and-bat pull.
Bag wrapped in a rag, tucked deep, walkin' slow —
folks that used to smile started lookin' at the ground.
His mama stopped callin'. His brother stopped comin' 'round.
The girl at the diner who saved him a seat —
turned her face to the window when he walked down the street.
Morals stripped. Reputation ripped. Table tipped.
Every hand in a pocket cost a name in his book.
I watched him lose the whole town, one look at a time.

[Chorus]
I said don't go down that road.
I said don't go down that road.
Every dollar in your pocket costs a friend at the door —
son I said don't go down that road.

[Verse 3 — the cell]
Now he's in a cell that echoes when he cries.
Neck sore from watchin' his own back with his own eyes.
Mirror on the wall don't ask him how he's been —
mirror on the wall don't need to. It's already seen.
No friends in the crowd, no letters in the slot.
Home behind bars is a cold, cold spot.
And in the quiet, in the middle of the night —
in the place where a man can't lie to himself —
he hears it. From a long time back. From a porch. From a friend.

[Bridge — the shift]
I said don't go down that road.
He heard it in the silence like a hymn from the pew.
He said he told me. He told me and I knew.
And that's the shift. That's the turn.
Not too late to crawl through the rifts.
The ripple in the sand comes back in gifts.
One man stood in the doorway. Gave him a lift.
Let him sort through the ashes. Steady pressure. Life shifts.

[Final Chorus — soft, half-time, as memory]
He said don't go down that road.
He said don't go down that road.
Every dollar in his pocket cost a friend at his door —
and he told me. He told me. He told me so.

[Outro]
Benny walks slow now. Hands empty. Head clear.
Some nights when he passes the porch he stops and says thanks.
I say nothing. Just nod. Just pour.
Some words a man doesn't have to say twice.
He heard me the first time. He just needed the second life.