Level and True

[Verse 1]
We left the tools out in the San Francisquito Canyon dust,
The eleventh of March, nineteen twenty-eight.
We built our walls on a builder we were trying to trust,
Sure we had another evening to be late.
Our hands were sore from the mending, from the planting and the care,
Believing tomorrow was a given in the air.

[Chorus]
And the concrete held a promise it was never meant to keep,
While the whole quiet valley fell asleep.
We built it level, we built it true,
Didn't know the water was coming for you.

[Verse 2]
You said, “The orange blossoms smell like heaven’s own perfume,”
As we hung the wet laundry on the line.
We thought the future was a neatly constructed room,
A mortise and a tenon, built to stand through time.
Our children slept soundly, their breathing soft and low,
A final, peaceful rhythm only we would ever know.

[Chorus]
And the concrete held a promise it was never meant to keep,
While the whole quiet valley fell asleep.
We built it level, we built it true,
Didn't know the water was coming for you.

[Bridge]
We thought our foundation was the work of human hands,
Didn't know the bedrock answers to some different demands.

[Outro]
We left the tools out in the San Francisquito Canyon dust,
And the water didn't leave them where we left.