The Unraveled Cuff

[Verse 1]
The five-oh-five horn from the Anacortes dock
Shakes the cold from the gulls on the rock.
You're standing there breathing the diesel and salt,
Sanding a memory down to a fault.
The dust on your jacket, the patch on your knee,
A tear in the fabric for no one to see.

[Chorus]
And you whisper, "It's alright," to a piece of sea-glass,
Then you kick at a piling, just to let the moment pass.
Like a thread's been pulled loose on a sleeve that you mend,
You were showing the grain, just for a second, my friend.

[Verse 2]
The fog is a wool blanket, damp and coarse-spun,
Stuck to the pier since the day was begun.
You trace a boat's name on the frost of the rail
With a carpenter's finger, missing the nail.
It's a quiet confession, a habit you keep,
While the rest of the island is still half-asleep.

[Chorus]
And you whisper, "It's alright," to a piece of sea-glass,
Then you kick at a piling, just to let the moment pass.
Like a thread's been pulled loose on a sleeve that you mend,
You were showing the grain, just for a second, my friend.

[Bridge]
The warp of the morning, the weft of the grey,
We're all just darning the holes in the day.

[Outro]
You turn up your collar against the attack
Of the wind that saw something you can't take back.