You want a reason, but that’s not how I work I just lay the stones in place, break my hands in the dirt She walked out one winter, never looked back Left me with chisels and plans, and no way to track How much of me went missing the moment she left So I keep stacking these years, try to hold on to what's left Everybody’s got their stories, mine’s heavy as these walls You’d think I’d know surrender by now, hell, I don't at all And I built it tall, I built it wide Poured out the man I was on the other side Stone by stone, for a love gone cold I'm still out here shaping what I can’t control Moonlight shining down, calls the sound of my name I give it everything, won't change a thing, won't lay down blame Years grind together, nobody comes around Carved out a face in the rock, but the eyes look down Sometimes the dawn makes all the cuts look deep Spent a lifetime bleeding into secrets I’ll keep I talk to the granite, yeah, answer myself Got a lifetime supply of reasons piled up on the shelf I faked a thousand new beginnings, but they all end the same You think time makes peace, but even clocks break, even faces change And I built it tall, I built it wide Left every version of me scattered outside Stone by stone, I forget what I knew Nothing left in these hands except what I lost when I lost you No witness to testify, no crowd, no acclaim Still I give it everything, making room for the ache, never naming the pain You ask if I’d do it again Damn right, I’d start from the ruin, Trade all my laughter, trade every friend For a memory you already ruined I live here, red eyes, rough hands Making something out of all that I am And I built it tall, I built it wide Every scar in the stone, everything I tried Stone by stone, year after year Can’t bring her back, but I keep her near No redemption in sight, no lesson to name Still I give it everything, for the ghost of a name Just a man, just a monument, just a promise in stone If she ever returns, she won’t find me, she’ll know I was always right here, turning ruin into home
