THE LINE [Intro — baritone, dry] I drew it once. I do not redraw it every time I get tired. [Verse 1] Dust on the tongue. Sun on the rail. A man is only as straight as the trail he promised himself when nobody watched. I speak that promise. I keep it locked. The river don’t clap. The field don’t praise. They only show you who you are on the days the easy road opens and winks like a friend. I look at it once. I do not step in. [Pre-chorus] Witness, if you’re listening— I bind my feet to this. [Chorus — long] I cast a line and I walk it. I cast a line and I walk it. Not a wish, a warrant carved in the day. Not a mood I can bargain away. I call my name like a nail in a board. I call my word like a loaded cord that only holds if I lean my weight. So I lean. I do not negotiate with the part of me that loves an exit. I shut that mouth. I do not flex it. Rise in the spine. Quiet in the jaw. I put good order on the thing I saw going crooked in my own two hands. I bind the devil I understand— the lazy one, the liar, the sneak who says tomorrow is a better church than today. Iron in the promise. Dust in the boot. God can watch or not—I still work the route. I do not pawn tonight for a drink of ease. I do not kneel to every door that says please. I cast this road true. I cast this work clean. I cast myself into the man I mean. Walk it. Walk it. Do not step wide. The spell is the walking. The walking is the pride. [Verse 2] I have seen men talk a mountain flat and fold when the first cheap wind hit their hat. I will not be a sermon with no feet. If I name a law, I live in its heat. A covenant ain’t a speech in a rented coat. It’s the same true step in a different road, counted in private, paid without a crowd. That is the only magic I allow. [Pre-chorus] Witness, if you’re listening— I bind my feet to this. [Chorus — long] I cast a line and I walk it. I cast a line and I walk it. Not a wish, a warrant carved in the day. Not a mood I can bargain away. I call my name like a nail in a board. I call my word like a loaded cord that only holds if I lean my weight. So I lean. I do not negotiate with the part of me that loves an exit. I shut that mouth. I do not flex it. Rise in the spine. Quiet in the jaw. I put good order on the thing I saw going crooked in my own two hands. I bind the devil I understand— the lazy one, the liar, the sneak who says tomorrow is a better church than today. Iron in the promise. Dust in the boot. God can watch or not—I still work the route. I do not pawn tonight for a drink of ease. I do not kneel to every door that says please. I cast this road true. I cast this work clean. I cast myself into the man I mean. Walk it. Walk it. Do not step wide. The spell is the walking. The walking is the pride. [Bridge] Judgment ain’t a courthouse. Judgment is a mirror and a mile. Fuck the tale that a hard man never kneels to his own rule. Damn the cheap rebel who calls every fence cruel. This shit is simple, and it sings if you let it: draw the line. Walk the line. Do not forget it. [Verse 3] Night comes honest. It always has. I want my name still fitting in my hands when I set them down and I take my rest. A kept word is the cleanest kind of wealth. If I fail, I fail standing, and I start the walk at first light with a shorter, tighter talk between me and the law I chose to keep. Then I put my boots on. Then I let it speak. [Final chorus] I cast a line and I walk it. I cast a line and I walk it. Not a wish, a warrant carved in the day. Not a mood I can bargain away. I call my name like a nail in a board. I call my word like a loaded cord that only holds if I lean my weight. So I lean. I do not negotiate with the part of me that loves an exit. I shut that mouth. I do not flex it. Rise in the spine. Quiet in the jaw. I put good order on the thing I saw going crooked in my own two hands. I bind the devil I understand— the lazy one, the liar, the sneak who says tomorrow is a better church than today. Iron in the promise. Dust in the boot. God can watch or not—I still work the route. I do not pawn tonight for a drink of ease. I do not kneel to every door that says please. I cast this road true. I cast this work clean. I cast myself into the man I mean. Walk it. Walk it. Do not step wide. The spell is the walking. I walked it. That’s pride. [Outro — spoken] That’s the whole rite. No smoke. No choir. Just a man and the line still there in the morning.
