Intro
Chisel in the drawer since the mill went cold
Grandfather's initials scratched where the gears used to hold
Rust don't lie, it just remembers slow
Every mark he left me still got somewhere to go
Verse
Foundry closed in eighty-one, furnace breathed its last
Men walked out with nothing but the soot stuck to they past
He stayed behind and carved into the frame of a car
Said the metal keeps a record when the paper goes too far
Three lines for the ones who lost a hand to the press
One circle for the widow who still wore her Sunday dress
He taught me how to read it 'fore he taught me how to write
Said ink fades in the rain, boy, but rust holds through the night
Fire took the roof off in the winter of the strike
He climbed back in the wreckage just to save the good vice
Scarred his palm on a beam that was glowing like a coal
Said pain's just a chisel when it's carving out your soul
By the time I was ten I could name every dent
Knew which rusted gate meant a debt that never bent
He died with his hands black, steel dust in his lungs
Left me a code that ain't spoke in nobody's tongue
Chorus
Runes in the rust, carved deep where the steel forgot
Every scar's a language, every wound's a plot
We don't write in ink, we etch what won't wash off
Runes in the rust, the proof that we still got
Verse
Block took the mill's place, same rust, different game
Chain-link instead of furnace, same soot, same shame
I carve my own marks now on the hood of a Regal
Line for the fallen, cross for the ones still lethal
Cousin caught a body count that the courts don't show
I scratched it in the fender so the block would know
Ain't about the flexing, it's about the keeping score
Every symbol on that metal is a closing door
Taught my little brother how to hold the blade steady
Said don't rush the carving, boy, the truth ain't ready
He asked me why we don't just post it, make it known
I said some things gotta live longer than a phone
Screen goes dark in a second, rust takes a hundred years
That's why the old man's chisel outlived all our tears
I keep it sharp, I keep it close, I keep it true
Every rune's a name for somebody who made it through
Chorus
Runes in the rust, carved deep where the steel forgot
Every scar's a language, every wound's a plot
We don't write in ink, we etch what won't wash off
Runes in the rust, the proof that we still got
Bridge
They tore the foundry down last spring, sold it for the land
Bulldozer couldn't touch what's carved by a steady hand
Took one gate before they hauled the rest away
Set it in my hallway so the marks could stay
Ain't a museum piece, it's a debt I still owe
Every scratch a name of somebody I still know
Outro
Rust don't rot away the truth, it just wears it in
Chisel's getting passed again, let the carving begin
Runes in the rust, the proof that we still got
