The Butcher of Mercy Street

I sold knives to boys with dead-end eyes
Taught them how to carve prayers from lies
My hands stink of blood and grace
Mercy’s a language this town erases

Now they call me king of the unmarked graves
My crown’s a bullet, my scepter’s a shiv
I built this hell with the bones I saved
The butcher’s the saint when the law won’t forgive

The widow spits curses, her rent’s overdue
Her son’s my best thief, her God’s my tattoo
The neon cross flickers above the pawn shop door
Salvation’s a debt, and I'm the fucking loan officer

Now they call me king of the unmarked graves
My crown’s a bullet, my scepter’s a shiv
I built this hell with the bones I saved—
The butcher’s the saint when the law won’t forgive

The cop’s new boots track mud on my floor
His badge shines like the shit I ignore
He whispers: We’re twins in different suits
You kill for the streets
I kill for the statutes

The tenements hum my lullaby of rust
Their pipes bleed the hymns of the dust
I’ll die as I lived: Half wolf, half shrine
The butcher, the savior, the fault line