[Verse 1]
Twenty years of ticking cinderblock time
Name carved deep in a painted bunk spine
Walked out squinting at a sky too bright
Cardboard box with the rest of my life
Held my breath at the halfway house gate
Paper cup coffee
Tasted like grace
First thing they gave me was a city map
And a list of jobs that would call me back
[Chorus]
I got rust on my shoes
Ink on my hands
Sweat on my collar
Dirt in my plans
Started where they said a man like me belongs
Bagging what the dogs left on suburban lawns
But every long day
Every hard night
I stacked one honest brick in a better life
Yeah
I stacked one honest brick in a better life
[Verse 2]
Picked up credits in fluorescent rooms
Read old poets by a busted broom
Professor said
“You write like you’ve been gone”
I laughed and said
“I’ve just been wrong”
Graduation cap was a borrowed joke
Tassel tangled in my thrift-store coat
Mama cried quiet in the second row
Like a hymn she used to hum soft and low
[Chorus]
I got rust on my shoes
Ink on my hands
Sweat on my collar
Dirt in my plans
Started where they said a man like me belongs
Bagging what the dogs left on suburban lawns
But every long day
Every hard night
I stacked one honest brick in a better life
Yeah
I stacked one honest brick in a better life
[Bridge]
Shipyard winter cut through that thin blue jacket
Steel rang out like a Sunday racket
Hands split open on a frozen rail
Clock kept winning
Knuckles went pale
Then you showed up with a thermos
Steam
Said my name like it wasn’t a crime scene
Your laugh floated over that salt and smoke
Hung in the air like a second chance note (oh)
[Verse 3]
Now there’s dishes in the sink
Toys on the floor
Two pairs of boots by a yellow front door
I still wake up from the sirens in my head
Count the ceiling cracks
Reach across the bed
You mumble
“You’re home
” pull me back to now
Kiss the worry right off my brow
I don’t forget where the dark road winds
But I keep it in the rearview
Small this time
[Chorus]
I got rust on my shoes
Ink on my hands
Keys in a bowl
Ring on a stand
Started where they said a man like me belongs
Bagging what the dogs left
Singing quiet songs
And every long day
Every hard night
I stacked one honest brick in a better life
Yeah
I stacked one honest brick in a better life