[Verse 1] On a kitchen table scarred by years My boy had a science fair that year A little bridge from craft-store wood Just something small for school to judge We boiled the sticks till they would bend Steam on the stove, the smell set in I learned the grain beneath my hands How fragile things begin to stand [Verse 2] Two wrestling boys, a reckless dance That old chess table never stood a chance But in the splinters, I saw something new A different way to let the light shine through Lines of tension, arcs of strain Little bones of bending grain [Chorus] A stick a child might throw away A bridge that holds a man's full weight Fragile hands and patient art Learning where the strong things start One stick at a time Feeling every line What looks like almost nothing Can carry all of mine [Verse 3] Then one cold morning came the call The kind of call that splits your soul But my boy came home and said "Dad, build mine" So I went back to boiling wood I boiled them till they bent to will I love the smell of what yields still A kitchen turned to something more A place to learn what broken heals [Bridge – cinematic lift] I know the grain by touch alone Where it will break, where it will hold A pound of wood and careful lines Carrying two hundred pounds of mine Every bend remembers heat Every curve remembers steam [Final Chorus] A stick a child might throw away A bridge that holds a man's full weight Beyond the oil, the clay, the light Fragile things have found their might One stick at a time The quiet kind of climb What looks like almost nothing Becomes a life by design [Final Verse] That little bridge from years ago Built for judges I don't know Was never meant to bear this load Or carry more than schoolboy hope But here I stand and understand The art I build with steady hands The smallest beams can hold a man [Outro – soft acoustic] Boil the wood Bend the grain Build the bridge One stick at a time

[Chorus] It’s the code in the marrow, it’s the ghost in the sand It’s the fire in the folding and the craft in my hand I’m building a system, one stick at a time. [Verse 1] Four simple letters written in a row A script so small the eye can’t even know Three billion pairs to make a single soul The tiny parts that make the person whole One strand is fragile, a million makes a life [Verse 2] Scoop it from the shoreline, sift it through a sieve Common as the dust, with nothing left to give But melt it in the furnace, purge it of the gray Etch it with a current and watch the wires play A billion tiny switches in a fingernail of space Computing every heartbeat of the human race From a grain of sand to a mind of light The desert’s only “ordinary” till you treat it right [Verse 3] The iron starts as orange rust, sleeping in the clay It takes the heavy hammer to drive the soft away Fold it once, fold it twice, a thousand times the same The value isn’t in the metal, it’s within the flame The more the layers overlap, the stronger they become The rhythm of the repetition is the artist’s drum It’s a stubborn kind of fever, a refusal to be weak [Chorus] It’s the code in the marrow, it’s the ghost in the sand It’s the fire in the folding and the craft in my hand I’m building a system, one stick at a time [Bridge] Just a barcode in the bargain bin The splinters on the floor where I begin But run your fingers down the grain And prove nothing’s “ordinary” if the love is deep I didn’t choose mahogany or stone I chose the child’s craft stick, Because anyone can make the marble speak I found my voice inside the weak [Outro] Just four letters. Just a grain of sand. Just carbon steel. Until touched by human hands Just a child’s craft stick Until touched by my hand Elevating the ordinary One stick at a time

[Verse 1] Someone flips me off at a red light Middle finger cutting through the morning I carry it upstairs to the office Drop it on a desk before the day's done A sharp word lands where it shouldn't Coffee shaking in a paper cup [Verse 2] I couldn't make the words come out right Tongue-tied and never understood Teachers tired of listening Kids laughed hard at the broken sounds But somewhere in those quiet hallways Something softer settled in [Chorus – group vocals] Every voice, every bruise, every kindness Every current we carry, carries others on its way Some burn bright, some bend crooked Some flicker where two shadows meet But the mark we leave… It remains [Verse 3] I left school in the tenth grade Walked out past the gate Found out quick the world keeps count Of every test you didn't take Jobs with splinters in the morning Cold steel ringing in my ears Hard roads teach a certain language Spoken only by my calloused hands [Verse 4] Fifth grade teacher shut the door one day Said "Stay back, I've got something to say" Pulled a blow dart gun from a cabinet My heart stopped Aimed it where the chalk would go Said "You could hit anything in this room If you'd quit acting like a punk" Then he handed it over smiling And something in me unlocked [Chorus – group vocals] Every voice, every bruise, every kindness Every current we carry, carries others on its way Some burn bright, some bend crooked Some flicker where two shadows meet But the mark we leave… It remains [Bridge – reflective] A therapist once leaned forward Said regret is a quiet disease Only cure is emptying yourself Into whatever you believe That sentence sat beside me years Like a lantern I could raise Once it kept me breathing On a dark and narrow day [Verse 5] Someone said I had good children Waiting in a line An older woman laughed Said "You won't know until there's time" "You'll see it in the way their children Stand or speak or choose to be" Now I watch the way they're living [Final Chorus – big choir] Every voice, every bruise, every kindness Every current we carry, carries others on its way What remains What remains Some burn bright, some bend crooked Some flicker where two shadows meet what remains

[Verse 1] Glue on my fingers, wires in my sleeve Resin like water I forget to breathe Matchstick skyline nobody sees Till I flip the switch and the shadows leave Started on the tiles with a science fair spark Little hands laughing in the glow of the dark Now I'm framing silence, turning scraps into art Building bright ribs from a handmade heart [Chorus] Kitchen floor to gallery light Same small sticks, a different life Turn it on, watch it rewrite Kitchen floor to gallery light [Verse 2] Hear the click, align the grain Glass-clear rivers learning my name Every rough edge finding its frame Quiet pieces humming the same What began as play learned how to stay Stacked little moments day by day Hidden lights waking what words can't say Simple bones finding their way [Bridge] All of the trials caught in the seams Held in the resin, glowing between Proof you can build impossible things From ordinary dreams [Final Chorus] Kitchen floor to gallery light Same small sticks, a different life Turn it on, watch it rewrite Kitchen floor to gallery light

[Chorus] I build, I break, I rise again, From the fire and the dust I stand, What was lost lights the road ahead, From the ashes I begin, I build, I break, I rise again. [Verse 1] Built from sparks of a science fair flame, First try strong but I learned the game, Simpson stand showed me I was wrong. [Chorus] I build, I break, I rise again, From the fire and the dust I stand, What was lost lights the road ahead, From the ashes I begin, I build, I break, I rise again. [Verse 2] Chessboard dream shaped by love of the play, Not strong enough when the kids crashed that day, Laughter and pieces scattered away. [Final Chorus] I build, I break, I rise again, Through the smoke and the what-could-have-been, Every ending's where I begin, I build, I break, I rise again.

[Verse 1] I've got a graveyard of half-built dreams Stacks of sticks and broken seams Half-made plans in a cardboard box Lessons hiding in the glue and knots Some I quit when the lines went wrong Some I smashed just to move along Every splinter on the workshop floor Says I know a little more [Pre-Chorus] Hands get shaky, plans fall through But the mess means I'm moving too [Chorus] I'm building forward, piece by piece Every mistake brings me closer to me The wobble and cracks don't scare me now They're the rhythm in the way I know how Try again, steady hands Turning missteps into better plans I'm chasing the spark, lighting the dark Building forward piece by piece [Verse 2] There's a nightstand by my bed Rushed and crooked but mine instead Shelves too small and a tilted frame Still it whispers my name It holds my book and a cup at night Reminds me slow is worth the fight Every line that isn't straight Says patience makes it great [Bridge] Two gallons deep in a river of light Colors spinning but none feel right Still I pour and I stand in the glow Learning to trust the flow The lamp's not finished, neither am I We're both reaching for the sky Every wrong shade clears my sight For the one that shines just right [Final Chorus] I'm building forward, piece by piece Every mistake brings me closer to me The wobble and cracks sing louder now They're the beat of the way I know how Rise again, steady hands Turning missteps into better plans I'm chasing the spark, lighting the dark Building forward piece by piece [Outro] Piece by piece, Piece by piece — again