Load-Bearing Wall

[Verse 1]
That spirit level your father left sits on the workbench.
Bubble floats right of center, telling a lie about the floor.
Sun comes through the dust motes on the window ledge.
Just another splintered thing nobody asks for anymore.

[Pre-Chorus]
Another Sunday bill to pay, another joist to brace.
All these plans you drew, leaving this empty space.

[Chorus]
Did you mean to leave a half-built house?
Did you ever measure out the cost of a quiet mouth?

[Verse 2]
The cold bite of steel in a late November garage.
Your calloused hands guiding a younger, softer pair.
"A good hand just knows the grain," was your camouflage.
Left a boy holding the tools, choking on the dusty air.

[Pre-Chorus]
Another leaky faucet cries, another promise to replace.
All these plans you drew, leaving this empty space.

[Chorus]
Did you mean to leave a half-built house?
Did you ever measure out the cost of a quiet mouth?

[Bridge]
These hands can set a corner true, can patch a crumbling wall.
But they can’t seem to hold a damn thing steady through the fall.

[Chorus]
(Countermelody begins: Was it ever gonna be enough?)
Did you mean to leave a half-built house?
(Countermelody: The weight of it, the weight of it all.)
Did you ever measure out the cost of a quiet mouth?

[Outro]
The silence holds the hammer now.
The silence swings the hammer.