The Weight of Inherited Silence

(Intro: Fingerpicked acoustic guitar with a warm, resonant low-end and subtle room ambience)
​[Verse 1]
The kitchen clock still ticks at half past four
Just like it did behind my father's chair
We spent a thousand mornings by that door
Counting the dust motes floating in the air
He taught me how to read the coming rain
And how to set a post into the stone
But never found a language for the pain
Or how to keep from standing all alone
​[Chorus]
It’s the weight of inherited silence
Passed down like a coat that doesn't fit
You wear it through the winter without violence
Just learning how to live inside of it
We say we're fine, we nod, we turn away
And carry everything we never say
​[Verse 2]
My grandfather had knuckles scarred and wide
From forty years of turning iron gears
He kept his whole life locked up tight inside
And never shed a single drop of tears
When he went quiet in that hospital bed
I held his hand and searched his faded eyes
We had a million words we never said
Beneath the steady hum of hospital lies
​[Chorus]
It’s the weight of inherited silence
Passed down like a coat that doesn't fit
You wear it through the winter without violence
Just learning how to live inside of it
We say we're fine, we nod, we turn away
And carry everything we never say
​[Bridge]
Now I catch myself staring at the floor
When someone asks me how I'm doing today
I feel that heavy lock upon the door
And swallow every honest word away
​[Guitar Solo]
(Instrumental: Sparse, weeping pedal steel melody over steady acoustic fingerpicking and deep upright bass)
​[Chorus]
It’s the weight of inherited silence
Passed down like a coat that doesn't fit
You wear it through the winter without violence
Just learning how to live inside of it
We say we're fine, we nod, we turn away
And carry everything we never say
​[Outro]
The kitchen clock still ticks at half past four
I'm sitting in my father's wooden chair
Listening to the quiet by the door
And wondering if I'll ever leave it there
(Fade out on a single, lingering low acoustic chord)