Verse 1
There’s iron under my boots and red dirt in my veins,
A sky full of silence and a head full of rain,
The whistle of the wind through a kilometre of steel,
Is the only thing out here that knows how I feel.
The camp lights flicker like a tired old prayer,
Men sit in their dongas just staring nowhere,
Phones glow like candles in the dead of the night,
Trying to hold on to a faraway life.
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Pre-Chorus
And the clock don’t tick out here — it drags like a chain,
Every minute’s a memory I’ll never regain.
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Chorus
I’m laying down rail while my little girl grows,
Missed first words, missed first steps, God only knows,
My woman’s at home being strong on her own,
While I’m sleeping with ghosts in a crib made of stone.
This pay keeps us fed but it’s robbing my soul,
There’s a hole in my chest that the money can’t fill or console,
I’m a man with a job, but a father half there,
With iron under my boots and love in the air.
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Verse 2
They talk about budgets, they talk about plans,
From offices far from the dust on our hands,
They shuffle the rules like a deck of old cards,
While we carry the weight in these sun-beaten yards.
Promises rust like the rail that we grind,
While the country forgets the backs of our kind,
We build it, we bleed for it, sweat in its heat,
But the rug keeps getting pulled from under our feet.
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Pre-Chorus
And hope’s just a thing that a tired man clings,
When the night gets too quiet and his phone never rings.
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Chorus
I’m laying down rail while my little girl grows,
Missed first laughs, missed first tears, God only knows,
My woman’s at home being brave through it all,
While I’m staring at steel and these red desert walls.
This pay keeps us fed but it’s costing my years,
There’s salt in my sweat and there’s salt in my tears,
I’m a man doing right but it don’t feel fair,
With iron under my boots and love over there.
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Bridge (soft, almost spoken)
But I hold on…
To the thought of the day I won’t drive to that plane,
When my boots hit the floor and don’t carry this pain,
When the rail’s just a memory, a story to tell,
Of a man who walked through a red desert hell.
And my daughter will know, when she’s older and wise,
Her dad fought a war you can’t see with your eyes.
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Final Chorus (bigger, hopeful)
I laid down rail while my little girl grew,
Every bolt, every weld, I was thinking of you,
My woman, my anchor, my reason, my home,
The only true north when I felt so alone.
This life tried to break me, but I carried the flame,
Through the silence, the loneliness, dust, guilt and shame,
I’m a man who endured so one day I’d be there,
No iron on my boots — just love in the air.
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Outro
There’s iron under my boots… for now.
But my heart’s already walking home.
