Dutchman's Patch

[Verse 1]
This mahogany plank from your grandma's porch is bleeding sap on the sawhorse.
I run my thumb over a dark water-stain from that August rain.
You can't hide the memory of the weight it's had to hold.
Some damage just gets settled in, years deep and cold.

[Chorus]
You got that knot in the wood grain everybody sands around.
But that's the part of you I wanna trace, the only honest ground.

[Verse 2]
The planer screams, shaving off the sun-bleached years.
You said, "Don't make it perfect, Otis, just make it stand."
The vibration runs from the floorboards right up through my hands.
I know that feeling, the constant hum of a fragile plan.

[Chorus]
You got that knot in the wood grain everybody paints around.
But that's the part of you I need to know, the only sacred ground.

[Bridge]
And I get so damn tired of fixing what the world has broke.
They call it character, this splintered, weathered oak.
But it's just damage, isn't it? Just the shape of the choke.

[Chorus]
You got that knot in the wood grain nobody else can stand.
So I'm carving out the ruin with a steady, calloused hand.

[Outro]
A new piece fits.
We don't have to be whole, just... this.