Unreinforced Masonry

[Verse 1]
The Zillow listing for the house on Pulaski Street
Says “good bones,” but I see the stress-fractures in the concrete.
I’m drafting the speech for a funeral that’s years away,
Practicing the weight of your wedding ring on a key tray.

[Chorus]
This is the final walk-through,
A schematic for a grief I can’t undo.
Just unreinforced masonry,
Holding up a century.

[Verse 2]
My sister will call from O’Hare, a Tuesday in the rain,
And say, “I guess this is the part where we feel all the pain.”
I'll catalog the smell of mothballs and your worn-out flannel coat,
Leave a note in Polish on the fridge that I barely even wrote.

[Bridge]
And in the quiet after, when the echo's all that's left,
There's a hairline crack that runs from the foundation to the roof.

[Outro]
It’s just the dead load of a life,
Holding steady.