Intro
Foundry gates rusted shut since the mill went dark
Chalk marks on the concrete, old scrapper's arc
Every symbol scratched by a hand that starved and stayed
Reading rubble like scripture, that's the language that we made
Verse
Grew up three blocks from the smokestack, hollow and cold
Daddy cut rebar for pennies, sold copper for gold
Torch scars up his forearm, map of every job he did
Said the fire don't forgive you, but it teaches every kid
I learned the marks by twelve, chalk X means the floor's thin
Circle with a slash through, means the roof's caving in
Old man Rasko taught me first, before his lungs gave out
Coughing ash in a coffee tin, still he never had a doubt
Said the rubble holds a language older than the deed
Every plate we strip for scrap is a sentence that we read
Sunday church was the gate yard, sermon was the rust
Faith ain't in the steeple, faith is in what you trust
Trusted my own hands before I trusted any man
Filled a bucket full of copper, called it my first plan
Now the young ones read my marks the way I read the dead
Rubble's just a Bible if you know the words that's said
Chorus
Runes in the rubble, that's the only book I read
Every scar's a sentence, every plate's a creed
Ash don't lie to no one, tells you who survived
Read the ruins right, and the ruins keep you alive
Verse
Sold my first ton of copper for four hundred flat
Bought my mama groceries, kept the rest for the mat
Where I slept behind the boiler when the shelter closed its door
Learned to sleep sitting up, learned to want a little more
By nineteen I ran three crews stripping half the east side
Taught them the marks I inherited, taught them where the roof would slide
Lost a boy named Denny to a beam he misread
Chalk washed off in the rain, so we carved it in the lead
Now every plate we strip got his initials on the flip
A rune for the ones that stayed steady when the whole thing dipped
I don't flex chains, I flex the calluses I earned
Every burn's a receipt for a lesson that I learned
Foundry closed but the language never did retire
Passed it down like embers, kept the whole thing lit like fire—
No, kept it lit like memory, no flame required
Just the marks, just the metal, just the ones who never tired
Chorus
Runes in the rubble, that's the only book I read
Every scar's a sentence, every plate's a creed
Ash don't lie to no one, tells you who survived
Read the ruins right, and the ruins keep you alive
Bridge
They tore the whole mill down last spring, sold the land for cheap
Poured a parking lot right over where the old gates used to keep
But I kept a piece of rebar, kept it by my door
Told my son the marks still matter even if there's no floor
Said the world will always try to pave you out the story
But the ones who read the rubble get to keep the glory
Outro
Chalk fades, concrete cracks, but the reading never dies
Every rune we left behind still tells you where truth lies
Ash settles, gates rust shut, still the lesson stays the same
