Hull Integrity

[Verse 1]
The August heat off the Pontchartrain makes the shoji screen sweat.
You're sketching a new keel on that vellum from your father.
And I'm watching the storm-line form on the ten o'clock broadcast,
wondering which plank in this old frame you'll want to replace last.

[Chorus]
We call this vessel 'us,' we call this vessel home.
But is a ship the same ship with all new wood and bone?

[Verse 2]
"The foundation's good," you said last spring, patching the cypress wall.
But the smell of your old wool coat is gone, the one from before the fall.
Your hands don't draw the same taut lines I used to memorize.
There's a different geometry reflected in your eyes.

[Chorus]
We call this vessel 'us,' and swear its timbers are still true.
But tell me, Julian, am I still the same me to you?

[Bridge]
I am not the patient lacquer, not the passive, mending gold.
I am the storm-proof bulkhead, I am the fight in the hold.

[Chorus]
You call this vessel 'us,' and point the compass north.
But don't you dare scrap this wreckage for what you think it's worth.

[Outro]
The keel holds the memory.
Even when the deck is new.