The Half-Carved Wing

[Intro]
[Verse]
The dust hangs in the light
Cedar shavings on the floor
The latch is holding tight
On the heavy wooden door
I smell the linseed oil
And the residue of toil
[Pre-Chorus]
My fingers find the shelf
A shadow of himself
Tucked behind the heavy vice
Something cold as winter ice
[Chorus]
A half-carved wooden sparrow
With a wing not yet begun
The path was straight and narrow
Underneath the autumn sun
It’s the things he didn’t say
That will never fade away
[Post-Chorus]
Just a little piece of pine
Frozen in a line of time
[Verse]
The chisel’s edge is dull
Resting in a coffee tin
A quiet, heavy lull
Where the sap is soaking in
He left the grain exposed
Before the shop was closed
[Pre-Chorus]
I feel the roughened wood
Just like he said I should
Every notch is a secret kept
While the rest of the garden slept
[Chorus]
A half-carved wooden sparrow
With a wing not yet begun
The path was straight and narrow
Underneath the autumn sun
It’s the things he didn’t say
That will never fade away
[Bridge]
Some want names in stone
High upon a throne
But he left this bird
A song that’s never heard
In the grain and the knot
Of a love he never forgot
[Verse]
I see the thumbprint there
In the hollow of the neck
A silent, wooden prayer
In a tiny cedar speck
He meant to finish it for me
Now it’s all I’ll ever see
[Chorus]
A half-carved wooden sparrow
With a wing not yet begun
The path was straight and narrow
Underneath the autumn sun
It’s the things he didn’t say
That will never fade away
[Post-Chorus]
Just a little piece of pine
Frozen in a line of time
[Breakdown]
The saw is silent now
Beneath the frozen bough
No grand parade or speech
Just what his hands could reach
[Chorus]
A half-carved wooden sparrow
With a wing not yet begun
The path was straight and narrow
Underneath the autumn sun
It’s the things he didn’t say
That will never fade away
[Outro]