The Mending Line

[Verse 1]
The sign on the Front Royal mill gate is chained up tight,
Says 'God Bless Our Futures' in the pale porch light.
We've been learning how to stand here in the August heat,
The smell of cut grass and polite defeat.
We are Caleb's friends, we are what's left behind,
A quiet kind of trouble on our minds.

[Chorus]
We're the mending line, a frayed-out seam,
Stitching up a different kind of American dream.
Yes sir, no ma'am, a promise in our throats,
The kids you left with vinegar and worn-out coats.

[Verse 2]
Sheriff Miller stops his cruiser, rolls the window down low,
Says, "You kids ain't got a permit for this kind of show."
We just nod our heads, we don't say a word,
An unspoken anthem is the only thing heard.
He's been sayin' that since Tuesday, when the notices were sent,
The day the thread ran out and the needles all were bent.

[Chorus]
We're the mending line, a frayed-out seam,
Stitching up a different kind of American dream.
Yes sir, no ma'am, a promise in our throats,
The kids you left with vinegar and worn-out coats.

[Bridge]
There's an empty chair at every table in this town,
We're just the pattern that you can't iron down.
We're the final stitch that you forgot to tie,
Holding it together underneath a Winchester sky.

[Outro]
A frayed-out seam...
Just a mending line...