The Cloth Knows the Road

Verse 1

I carried my lunch in a bag that split right there by the rail in the rain. The foil went silver, the bread went soft, my hands smelled of tape again. Somebody tied up a strip of blue shirt, somebody left the knot alone. I heard the traffic learning our names in a language made of stone.

Pre-Chorus

Don't pull that one. That's holding. Don't ask the cloth what it knows.

Chorus

The cloth knows the road, the rain and the load, the palm and the pressure and the going. Your hands and my hands make one weathered band. The cloth knows the road by holding.

Verse 2

Gary was stitched over somebody's pocket. Red thread ran under the sleeve. Four missed calls and a sandwich gone cold. I had no story they'd believe. Apron, shoelace, carrier handle, all of it learning to stay. The bridge did not bless us or ask us our names. It just took the wind for the day.

Chorus

The cloth knows the road, the rain and the load, the palm and the pressure and the going. Your hands and my hands make one weathered band. The cloth knows the road by holding.

Bridge

Thank you for the tape on my thumb. Thank you for the lunch I forgot. Thank you for the woman who said tomorrow is arrogant. Thank you for the knot that held when the rest of us did not.

Final Chorus

The cloth knows the road, the rain and the load, the palm and the pressure and the going. Your hands and my hands make one weathered band. The cloth knows the road by holding.

Outro

Tie it beside me. Leave the old knot. Tie it beside me. That one is holding.