Hammer, Hearth, and Hand

[Verse 1]
Dawn sneaks in through the shutters
Smoke hangs low in the beams
Ash in my lungs
Lime on my fingers
Shaping other people’s dreams

Iron sighs red on the anvil
Oak waits under the plane
My name is carved in nothing
But I sign it all the same

[Chorus]
I am a craftsman in the Middle Ages
Quiet hands that turn the pages
Of stone and wood and wool and sand
History passes through my hands
I don’t wear crowns
I build their cages
I am a craftsman in the Middle Ages

[Verse 2]
Bells call us down from the rafters
Chisel still warm in the groove
I kneel
Then go back to the scaffolds
Saints above that never move

Winter bites hard through the cloister
Lantern swings
Thin little flame
Threading gold into an altar cloth
No one ever asks my name

[Chorus]
I am a craftsman in the Middle Ages
Quiet hands that turn the pages
Of stone and wood and wool and sand
History passes through my hands
I don’t wear crowns
I build their cages
I am a craftsman in the Middle Ages

[Bridge]
Maybe some far child will wonder
Who set this arch
Who forged this ring
They will touch the work with their fingers
Never know the song I sing (oh)

[Chorus]
I am a craftsman in the Middle Ages
Quiet hands that turn the pages
Of stone and wood and wool and sand
History passes through my hands
I won’t be inked in any pages
Still
I am living through the ages