[Verse 1] Sunset paints the corner store in gold On Maple where the cracked sidewalks hold Kids kick a can past the barber’s light Old screens blink blue in the first porch night I fold my words in a notebook crease Send them down these blocks like a folded lease To the stoop where the sisters trade their news To the laundromat hum and the plastic chairs blue I write your names in a steady line Each one a drum hit, each one mine Mr. Lee with the bent-back gate Ms. June with the mint on her front-steps plate [Pre-Chorus] And the air turns slow Like it knows my hand Every window glows When I cross the land [Chorus] Dear old block, I’m yours Dear old block, I’m yours I leave my heart in the crack of your doors Dear old block, I’m yours Dear old block, stay near Dear old block, stay near I hear my life in your cut-up years Dear old block, stay near [Verse 2] The corner boys lean where the bus stop bends With a laugh that the evening light mends A flag on a chain-link lifts and falls Like a tired old man at the edge of the halls Mrs. Ortiz waters basil in cans While the trumpet from my window answers the vans A screen door slaps, then the whole street sways Like it learned my name from a hundred ways I got your dust on the cuffs of my jeans Your summer stains, your nickel dreams Your busted curb and your painted mail Your front-yard prayers and your freight-train trail [Pre-Chorus] And the page goes warm In my open palm Every little scar Keeps the rhythm calm [Chorus] Dear old block, I’m yours Dear old block, I’m yours I leave my heart in the crack of your doors Dear old block, I’m yours Dear old block, stay near Dear old block, stay near I hear my life in your cut-up years Dear old block, stay near [Bridge] When the stoops go dark, I still feel you breathe In the tin-can moon and the sycamore leaves If I walk away, you don’t disappear You live in the names that I write right here So let the night come in, let the shadows slide I’m still your kid with the paper tied I’ve got one more line, one more promise made That I’ll keep your light in the shape I saved [Chorus] Dear old block, I’m yours Dear old block, I’m yours I leave my heart in the crack of your doors Dear old block, I’m yours Dear old block, stay near Dear old block, stay near I hear my life in your cut-up years Dear old block, stay near [Outro] So I sign my name where the gold grows thin And the whole street hums, “Come back again” Dear old block I’m yours