[Verse] Mother ironed out every stubborn crease Taught my open palms how to beg for peace Never cracked a bone, never raised my tone Built a gentle shelter out of borrowed stone I took the holy vows, I wore the wedding band Carried sleeping children in a careful hand Paid every mortgage down right to the day Swept all the broken glass out of their way [Chorus] They say a mother makes a good soul from the clay And a woman carves the spine to make him stay So why am I standing in this unbruised skin A good man who never let the wild fire in? [Verse] My daughter has my eyes, she learns the quiet grace How to pull a smile across a hollow face My wife turns in the dark, her shoulder cold to mine Waiting for a thunder that was never in my spine Fifty steady winters in these polished shoes I never made an enemy I couldn't lose Praise from the pulpit, flowers on the lawn A perfect shadow breathing till the light is gone [Chorus] They say a mother makes a good soul from the clay And a woman carves the spine to make him stay So why am I standing in this unbruised skin A good man who never let the wild fire in? [Bridge] Who do I blame for the blood I never bled? The cradle or the altar or the things unsaid? Nobody crushed me, nobody made me yield I just surrendered before I took the field [Chorus] They say a mother makes a good soul from the clay And a woman carves the spine to make him stay Look at the monument of all my spotless years A saint on paper, choking on his quiet tears [Post-Chorus] (Oh-oh-oh) No scars on my knuckles, no dirt on my name (Oh-oh-oh) I kept every promise and forfeited the game (Oh-oh-oh) A house built of mercy with nothing left to save (Oh-oh-oh) The good boy marching to a good man's grave [Outro]
