"Picture" lyrics

Yo, uh

She clutched her square phone with eyes that never held hope
She about a 12-year-old, but I really couldn't tell, though
Her sleeves went past her elbows, and when she pulled them low
They covered the cuts that ran back and forth like railroads
A short bow up in her hair that matched her shell toes
She stared at me in pale clothes and stood there froze
She said "Can I show you a picture in my cell phone?
It's of my dad and I ain't seen him since he left home
But I ain't mad, it's just my mom, she feels all alone
And don't feel bad, 'cause this is all we've ever came to know
This pic's my new school, but I don't ever wants to go
'Cause everyone thinks they too cool and I hate it, so
I hide up in my room and I go and then I locks the door
I don't know what to do, my mom, she thinks she lost control
I wanna show you a little picture before I gots to roll"
I said "Sure", then she pulled it out slow, sayin'

If I told you (If I told you)
If I showed you (If I showed you)
My pictures are all I can hold to (What do you see in this picture?)
Would I know you (Would I know you)
Could I hope you (Could I hope you)
See that my pictures are all I can hold to

She said
"If God love me, then why He make me face this?
I think I'm ugly, I wanna change it like a facelift"
Then suddenly she went and took off her bracelets
And showed me the cuts up on her wrists and where they made prints
"Sometimes I get mad, don't know how to take this"
She showed me a picture of her dad back in '86
"We look alike all the way to how our face gets"
I said "You're right" and then I laughed, but let me show you this

If I told you (If I told you)
If I showed you (If I showed you)
My pictures are all I can hold to (What do you see in this picture?)
Would I know you (Would I know you)
Could I hope you (Could I hope you)
See that my pictures are all I can hold to

Aight, so this one's my favorite one
That one's pretty good too, but
You know what, I gotta, I gotta show you somethin' actually

"They say a picture's worth a thousand words, that I'm sure of
But let me show you this very picture you ain't never heard of"
Pulled out a book and she was like "Well tell me, what is that?
There ain't no pictures in that book, that's just a page that's black"
I said "This picture represents exactly where we at
We in the dark without a spark of hope that'll last"
I flipped the page, she said "That ain't a picture neither
That's just a blank page, why don't you look a bit deeper"
"This represents the very place now that we can go
It's all based on this next page I gots to show
The next page is red, you understandin' this?
Well, that's the blood that Jesus shed so you can live
And you can exchange your old pictures right now for Him
And you can trade it all in for what He's down to give"
I put the pictures in her hands, "See, it comes down to this
Which one you holding on to, yours or His?"

If I told you (If I told you)
If I showed you (If I showed you)
My pictures are all I can hold to (What do you see in this picture?)
Would I know you (Would I know you)
Could I hope you (Could I hope you)
See that my pictures are all I can hold to