August Static

[Verse 1]
My floorboards learn the weight of your uncle's boots from Beaufort.
The screen door whines a low C sharp against the August static.
He brings the plywood, you bring the worry—a splinter under the skin.
I've seen this storm in your grandmother's hands; I feel it closing in.

[Chorus]
They're nailing promises to my eyes
(Seventeen-hundred block of Price)
To hold back the dark and the tide
(Just hold on for the night)

[Verse 2]
Your mother says, "Pray it turns east," and feels the grain in my rail.
Her calloused thumb is tracing the ghost of a hammer nail.
You map the evacuation route on a paper placemat from Carey Hilliard's.
I just hold the humidity, the silence, the waiting, the minutes.

[Chorus]
They're nailing promises to my eyes
(Seventeen-hundred block of Price)
To hold back the dark and the tide
(Just hold on for the night)

[Bridge]
I held the breath of fifty summers just like this one.
Watched the salt water rise and kiss the Gwinnett Street sign.
Another set of hands bracing for the break.

[Outro]
Just the wind and the tape...
(Just the wind and the tape...)