Green Timber, Old Hands

[Verse 1]
Fourteen summers, the scaffold went up, held the weight,
A child's hand on the blueprint, sealing my own fate.
Mama's struggle, a quiet prayer, the foundation unseen,
In the Scarborough concrete, I learned what 'load-bearing' truly means.
No time for adolescence, just shoring up the frame,
From morning sun to streetlights, whispering my own name.

[Chorus]
Built this life too fast, the green timber groaning hard,
Twenty-five on the calendar, but felt like I’d played every card.
This structure stands, but the joints ache, a silent, tired plea,
For the childhood I eschewed, for the man I'm meant to be.

[Verse 2]
By twenty-two, I was the master carpenter, framing every beam,
From Rexdale corners to Scarborough dreams, overseeing the scheme.
Every pivot a gimbal, balancing the family’s needs and street's demands,
The silent graft of unseen labor, calloused through working hands.
Walked through the market, the jerk smoke thick, shoulders squared and wide,
But the grain of my spirit, already showing years I couldn't hide.

[Chorus]
Built this life too fast, the green timber groaning hard,
Twenty-five on the calendar, but felt like I’d played every card.
This structure stands, but the joints ache, a silent, tired plea,
For the childhood I eschewed, for the man I'm meant to be.

[Bridge]
This ain't no lament for choices, just the verdigris on the soul's frame,
The quiet dignity of work, whispering my ancestral name.
The edifice rose quick, but the price paid in sleepless nights, you see,
The unseen foundation, built by them and now by me.

[Outro]
Yeah, twenty-five, the timber's tired, but the structure still stands tall,
Built this from the bottom, refusing to fall.