Lyrics

You held the flame, I held my tongue
You built the world where I was young
With every nail and ringing sound
You raised me up, then beat me down


I learned to flinch before the blow
To read your face before the show
You called it love, but love don’t bruise
It took my voice, you called it dues


I was clay and you were stone
Tried to make a man alone
You swung your truth, I bore the weight
And what we called love
Was forged too late


You saved the smiles for your second son
Gave him the light I never won
He played with wood and built his dreams
While I was breaking at the seams


He got your hands without the heat
He got to fall and still feel sweet
I watched you laugh, I bit my tongue
The son you needed came too young


I was smoke, and you were fire
Burned me clean of all desire
By the time you dropped your weight
I was long gone
It was forged too late


You said “I’m sorry” with your eyes
While you were hooked to breathing lines
Too weak to fix the years you stole
Too late to mend a father’s role


I struck the steel one final time
Let echoes answer for the crime
I sang you home in minor key
A song for what you couldn’t be


I was gone, and you were grace
But only in your dying face
We built a love we couldn’t fake
But I learned too well—
It was forged too late


Yeah, I learned too well…
It was forged too late.