Good Bones

[Verse 1]
The Polaroid from the Lackawanna Fall Fest is on the dented fridge door,
You're nineteen, laughing, with pink cotton candy stuck in your hair.
I keep it next to my paystub from the restaurant on Penn,
A faded blueprint for a structure that was never really there.

[Chorus]
But these walls have good bones, solid to the core,
And these hands learned a different kind of architecture.
Yeah, these walls have good bones, stronger than before,
I can finally stand the weather in the picture.

[Verse 2]
The Allegheny is frozen half a foot thick today,
Smells like wet iron when I walk my dog down by the old freightway.
My PO called this Tuesday, asked, "Just checking in, you good?"
I said "I'm fine," and for the first time since that courthouse, I understood.

[Chorus]
'Cause these walls have good bones, solid to the core,
And these hands learned a different kind of architecture.
Yeah, these walls have good bones, stronger than before,
I can finally stand the weather in the picture.

[Bridge]
On the lease agreement, I traced the watermark with my thumb,
Felt the stress fracture tremor of exactly where I've come from.
I didn't lie about the little box I had to check,
Just signed my name and felt the rebar leaving my neck.

[Outro]
My hands built this house.
These walls have good bones.